Where is Thy Sting?
by DreadNot
Summary: Vampires can hold grudges longer than humans can stay alive. Alucard takes his revenge against Alexander Anderson. Now complete.
1. Choose

_Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day._ - 2 Corinthians 4:16

The aged priest was unbowed by the years. He still went about his duties with the grace and joy of a much younger man. He had left behind the more violent passions of his youth. He had a successful children's ministry and had been granted an audience with the Pope himself to commend him for his service to God through the youth of his parish.

Few knew of his younger years' service to the Church in a very different capacity. One who remembered was there to see him.

The Father was tidying up the children's room. There had been a children's service that evening and the kids always left toys scattered afterwards.

A chuckle he had not heard in decades whirled him around, hand reaching into a deep pocket in his cassock.

"Judas Priest, I never thought to find you reduced to nothing more than a nursemaid."

Alexander Anderson glared at the vampire who had been his nemesis. "Children are the future of the world and of the Church. I would not expect a heathen creature such as yerself to have any regard for such things. I see that ye have not changed. Not that I should expect one such as ye to change."

The red man glided forward from the shadows. "How can I change? Unlike you, I am eternal. You may have lived longer than a normal human would, but soon you will be dust and I will be the only one to remember you."

"I would ask that ye not remember me, Alucard. I have served God for far longer than my threescore and ten and it doesn't scare me to know I will join him soon. I would ask why ye're here now, after all these years? Have ye come to mock my going the way of all flesh? If so, it is a wasted trip. Ye can not pain me with the thought of meeting my maker at long last."

"Perhaps I have come to send you on to your maker since you're so eager to see him."

The old priest snorted, "Ye'd kill me now? Ye're so pathetic that ye'd wait until I was old and grey before ye'd come to kill me? Ye're lying. Are ye lying to me, or to yerself?"

"Does it matter? I'm here. You're here. I may kill you. I may not. Let's say for the moment that I'm succumbing to the human weakness of nostalgia. I wanted to see the man who planted so many blades in my body; the man who threatened me in the British Museum; who saved my Master in London; and who killed my only fledgling in three hundred years. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that I wanted to see you before you went to your God."

Anderson was taken aback. "I thought I was too old to be surprised, vampire. Are ye telling me that ye're falling prey to human emotion?"

"Don't push me, Anderson. I still owe you a world of pain for what you did to Seras. You killed my child and I have an eternity to hold grudges."

"And there's where we're different, beast. Ye will spend eternity on this planet holding your grudges and yer hatred. God willing, I'll spend eternity never having to see another damnable creature such as ye. Ye're right, I killed Seras. Hopefully while she was still human enough to have a chance with her soul. She was a sweet child, despite what ye did to her."

The vampire moved too fast for the old man's diminished reflexes. Anderson found himself pushed brutally against the wall with Alucard's latest large gun shoved under his chin. "My point exactly, Iscariot. She was a _child. My_ child! I have had many years to think on this and to decide just what my revenge would be. I am about to have it, served nice and cold."

"Killing me won't give ye yer revenge. It means nothing to me. I'm over one hundred thirty years old. The regenerative abilities that made me yer foil for so many years have kept me alive long enough to be tired of living. Ye'd be just about doing me a favor since I don't know how many more years I'll be on this earth and I'm starting to get a mite tired."

"Oh no, Judas Priest, that would be the least of my plans. I'm going to give you a choice. I will choose one of the children of your parish to be my new fledgling. I notice that young Morgan Travers is one you seem quite fond of. She's smart, attractive, and remarkably, still a virgin."

For the first time, Anderson became angry. He shoved against the vampire who was restraining him, unheeding of the gun in his face. The long years had sapped him of his strength though, and he was unable to move the vampire. Alucard laughed and leaned into him, "Fight me, Judas Priest. Fight! I will take Morgan tonight, unless…"

"Unless what, Alucard? She's an innocent. Don't hurt her because of yer vendetta against me. What can I do to make ye leave her be?" The priest dropped his arms and stopped fighting his captor.

Alucard leaned in and made a show of sniffing his face. "You have been a faithful Catholic. You have kept your vow of celibacy all these years - through all the temptations, through the long decades of your service to the Church. You are still a virgin, Alexander. If you don't want Morgan to take Seras' place as my child, _you_ will take her place."

"What?! Ye must be insane! I cannot do that!"

"Then I will kill you and you will go to your eternal rest knowing that young Morgan will be my companion in eternity. _She_ will pay for your selfishness, Alexander, and you can rot in the Hell of your weakness knowing that." Alucard's face was a study in evil anticipation. He drank in the priest's despair and waited for his answer.

It came in a form he was not altogether expecting. He grunted at the feel of silver shoving through his flesh into his heart and was blasted back by a wave of biblical spells. He lay on the floor for a moment, tasting the pain that welled up from the wound in his chest and the myriad small cuts the pages had left on his face and neck.

He heard the Judas Priest running past him and pulled the offending knife from his body. He rolled over on his stomach and watched Anderson, calling out as his enemy's hand touched the door, "So you've chosen? You've decided that your life is more precious than Morgan's?" Anderson froze, hand still on the door. "Or do you have the illusion that you can save her from me? I don't need Morgan. I could take Thomas or Aïne or Braden. You can't protect them all. Your choice, my Judas Priest, is solely whether it will be your flesh or someone else's that I claim this night."

He savored the moment when Anderson's shoulders slumped and his hand dropped from the door. _I have won!_ He pulled himself off the floor and joined the priest where he stood. "Hear me, Alexander Anderson," he turned the paladin to face him. "This must be your choice. Do you choose to give yourself to me?"

"I didn't choose anything, abomination! I cannot allow you to take the soul of an innocent." Alucard could hear the man's resolution breaking. He pressed his attack.

"Then you are making a choice. You may not like the choice, but the truth of this is that you do have one. You may choose to join me as my child, or you may choose to have one of the children of your parish take the place of the child you took from me. _Choose_ and own that choice and tell me what choice you have made. _Choose, Judas Priest!_"

Green eyes glared into red for long minutes. Alucard relished every moment and waited for the inevitable. Eventually, the priest closed his eyes; his face flinched when he came to his decision.

"I choose to go with ye, vampire. I will be yers in penance for taking Seras from ye. I choose this to save a true innocent from yer clutches. I may be virgin, but we both know I'm no innocent." Anderson removed the cross from around his neck, kissed it and laid it aside. He took off his collar and cassock and stood before Alucard wearing his trousers and undershirt.

For his advanced years, Anderson was remarkably well preserved. So much of the aging process has to do the human body's reduced ability to regenerate itself. With his unnatural regenerative skills, the priest did not look even half his age. His hair had gone gray, but blondes always wore gray more gracefully. He had lines etched on his face. Most would say they gave depth and character. His frame was still powerful and his muscles were still firm. If he was not as insanely powerful and swift as he'd been in his heyday, he was still the match for most normal human men in their prime.

For a moment Alucard remembered Walter Dornez with regret. If only age had been so kind to the Angel, they might not have lost him to Millennium. _Enough. The Judas Priest reminds me of times long gone. I have limitless time for thought; delicious action such as this comes so infrequently._

He stepped up to the waiting priest. He could see the man's pulse pounding in his throat. Anderson was doing a good job of looking stoic, but Alucard could smell his fear. Before Anderson could move, Alucard laid a gentle kiss against the man's lips. "This is where you're supposed to close your eyes."

Anderson continued to stare at him as Alucard dipped his head down to his neck. His eyes widened when he felt the vampire's teeth tear into his flesh, but they did not close until Alucard had taken so much blood that he was too weak to keep them open any longer. His knees had folded under him and the two men lay on the floor as the sounds of Alucard's feeding filled the air.

Alucard could feel Anderson lose his hold on his soul. He could feel the man's essence drawn into him. When the only grip the priest had on his being was the most tenuous of touches, Alucard drew back and opened a vein in his wrist. He fed Anderson's soul back to him, now changed, in his blood. _People think we vampires don't have souls. That's not true at all. Our souls have been transformed as have our bodies, but they aren't gone. Feel this, Alexander. This is your soul. I am the Philosopher's Stone that has transmuted you. You will have eternal life. You are no longer a leaden mortal. I have made you golden. _

_You are my child._

_

* * *

Gotta be AU on this. I'm ditching the opposite sex requirement for vampirism, although keeping the virginity requirement. Disclaimer: These characters are the sole property of Kohta Hirano. I have no financial interest in his characters and make no claim of ownership beyond the occasional group grope in my dreams.  
_


	2. Truth

Alex had always loved sleeping. His years in Iscariot had taught him to wake quickly when threatened, but he had always loved floating in the calm between sleep and wakefulness. He felt close to God then. 

He let the calm buoy him. Memories tried to intrude on his peace, but he pushed them back. _There's no danger, I can just sleep. I just want to rest for a while. _

There's only so long you can drift before the world starts to demand to be noticed. The world asserted this time through pain. His stomach cramped cruelly and he came awake with a grumbling thought about the parsonage's cook.

**Bump**

"Wha-?" _A box? What am I doing in a box?_ The memories came back in a dizzying rush. He had bumped his head on the lid of a coffin. _Ah bloody hell! Dear God, I pray you can forgive me. _His stomach knotted again. He clutched his middle and groaned. _The children, the vampire, Morgan, the bite. Oh God, I am so sorry. I sacrificed myself for the sake of the children. I had no other choice.  
_

"I wanted to talk to you about that, Judas Priest." Alucard's voice was muffled by the coffin lid. The top raised and Alex squinted against the light.

"I don't want to see ye right now, unholy beast." Alex tried to pull the lid closed again when he was struck by another wave of pain across his midsection.

"You don't have a choice, priest. You'll do what I tell you. I am your Master now." The lid was pulled from his grasp and a hand reached in and grabbed his shirt. He was unceremoniously pulled from the coffin and set on his feet in front of the other man.

Anderson tried to stand straight before his tormentor, but found it difficult with the pain in his stomach. Alucard looked him over. "Turning can be a bit uncomfortable at first," the vampire commented.

"What do ye want?" he glared at Alucard.

"'What do you want, _Master?_'" Alucard grinned when Anderson bared his fangs at him.

Alex wasn't going to give the damned vampire the pleasure of calling him Master. It wasn't going to happen. He was horrified when he felt a twist in his mind and his mouth opened against his will, "What do ye want, Master?"

"Much better, son." Alucard's voice bubbled with mirth. "I wanted to talk to you about your situation. There are a number of things about which you are ignorant. Are you aware of the current state of the Hellsing Organization?"

"No, I haven't paid attention to old enemies for many years. It's been enough for me to care for my parish."

"The Hellsing Organization is run by Sir Olivia Hellsing. She has been in charge for the past eight years since the death of her father, Sir Samuel. Hellsings so rarely live to an advanced age and her father was no exception. Sir Olivia is twenty-two years old and one of the better leaders the organization has had since the loss of her great-great-grandmother, Sir Integra."

"What does that matter to me? To us?" Alexander choked out the word against his will, "Master?"

"I am bound to the Hellsing family by the seals that Abraham van Helsing established centuries ago. As long as the bloodline continues and the head of the family does not release me, I am their servant. Since you are _my_ servant, you too serve the Hellsing family and organization."

Anderson reeled at serving the organization he had opposed for so many years. Between the pain in his stomach and the shocking changes in his life, he was feeling very unbalanced. It was as though Alucard was pushing him back to the time when he was a Vatican assassin, when he dealt death with pleasure. He thought he had left that Alexander Anderson behind decades ago. He'd left the killing fever behind with his role as Iscariot's ace in the hole. They had younger aces now. He forced himself to gather his thoughts. _I am an old man, not a young killer. I will use my most dangerous weapon, my mind, instead of charging in, blades drawn. _

"Not so, Judas Priest." Alucard turned him to face a floor-length mirror on the wall behind him. He gaped at what it showed him. He hadn't seen that unlined face in more than eighty years. He'd gone gray fifty or fifty-five years ago. Now he looked like he was in the prime of his life. The red eyes staring back at him from the mirror were the only things unfamiliar. The shock left him defenseless against the next series of pains that ripped through him. They dropped him to his knees and he looked at the shining shoes that stopped near his nose.

"I'm going to leave you for a while. You need to finish your body's purging and it's not an experience I care to relive with you. Take the time to think about what I've told you already. I want to see if you can catch what you're missing without my leading you to it. The bathroom is through that door." He pointed. "Try not to make a mess in my room. I'll have Alfonse prepare yours."

The shoes faded away in front of him. When he felt that the vampire was gone, Alex rolled onto his side and wrapped himself around his agony. He tried to discipline his thoughts. If he could concentrate, he could ignore the pain that refused to abate. Alucard was dropping hints; there was something else he wanted Alex to understand. Knowing that this was all part of the vampire's long contemplated and carefully orchestrated revenge, whatever it was that he hadn't told Alex was going to be very ugly when he found it out.

He pulled himself up, staggered to the bathroom and leaned heavily on the sink. He washed his face and tried to calm himself.

Three hours later Alex had found out what Alucard had meant by "purging." He was feeling much better and had settled down in the room's only chair to think.

_He didn't tell me something. He told me what he wanted me to know last night. Just enough. He gave me the rest today. How does it make a whole picture? _He screamed in rage when the pieces fit together. He threw the large chair against the wall and began methodically destroying everything he could get his hands on. He was just about to turn his attentions to the coffin when Alucard stepped in.

"My coffin is off limits, child." Anderson tried to get past him to throw the coffin off of its pedestal, but Alucard dropped him to the ground without even touching him. He didn't know how the vampire had such control of him, but he couldn't move at all. He stopped struggling and found control of his limbs returned to him.

"I told you, my coffin is off limits. You'll clean up the rest of the mess when I let you up. You will not touch my coffin again unless I give you my express permission. Go ahead and try it now."

Anderson tried to push the coffin and found himself stopped just before he touched the wood. He tried again and was stopped dead. He tried grabbing some of the debris off the floor and throwing it at the coffin, but his usual perfect aim was inexplicably off and he kept missing his target.

"I hate you! I hate you and I _will _kill you!"

"I hate you and I will kill you, _Master_." Alucard's voice was honey-sweet.

"I hate you, Master. I hate you and I will see you dead, _Master. _I will see you rotting in the deepest pits of Hell. I will send you there and follow you to see your eternal damnation, since you have dragged me into damnation with you.

"But how did you do it? How did you bypass the seals to be able to kill me? You couldn't kill the children of my parish. You wouldn't have been able to make any of them into vampires. The seals wouldn't permit it. How did you manage to get past them to get to me? _Master_." The last word was spat out with venom.

"You chose it, Judas Priest. You gave yourself to me. _You_ did it for me. The locks constrain me against violence against those who are not undead or enemies of the Hellsing Organization. They prevent my creating a Midian who does not choose it. They don't constrain me against lying."


	3. Introductions

It was going perfectly. His revenge was coming along quite well. _I will break him. He will serve me and there will come a time when I will even be able to release him and he will still serve me as loyally as Seras ever did. _

Convincing Sir Olivia to accept Anderson would be interesting. She had the Hellsing steel as strongly as any of them ever had. She reminded him almost too much of Integra. She was not going to be pleased with him for bringing another vampire into the organization.

He wouldn't have to lie to her - much. Anderson _had_ chosen his fate. He had a choice. Alucard had just ensured that the choices seemed to be unavoidable. If he withheld some of the details from Olivia and restricted Anderson's ability to speak with her, it would not harm her or Hellsing – just his little Judas Priest.

He could feel Anderson's fury from down the hall where he had taken Seras' old bedroom. Alucard found it only fitting. He was particularly amused to know that Anderson's lanky frame was going to have difficulty fitting in the coffin made for a much shorter Seras.

ooo

"You have _who_ downstairs? Alucard, tell me this is one of your misguided attempts at a joke. Alexander Anderson would have to be over a hundred years old."

"Actually, Master, he's over one hundred _thirty_ years old."

"You can't tell me you have a newly turned Iscariot vampire in my cellars." Olivia was furious. The vampire was always pushing her. She had been dealing with his little jests for her entire life and there were days when she thought that her many-times-great-grandfather had had the right idea in sticking the blighter in the cellar and forgetting about him.

"Paladin Anderson chose to become a vampire. It had to have been his choice. How else could I have turned him? You know that the seals would prohibit my turning an unwilling human." His grin was absolutely infuriating.

"I want to meet this new vampire. I want to meet the man who is almost as much a part of my family history as you are. And I want to hear from _him_ why it is that a Catholic priest is now a vampire allegedly in the service of the Hellsing Organization. There's something here you aren't telling me, Alucard and I _will_ know the whole truth."

ooo

Alex understood the cruel joke Alucard had played on him. The room lacked any sign of previous habitation except the coffin; the coffin that would be too small for him; the coffin that would have been the perfect size for Seras Victoria.

He thought back to the last time he had seen the woman whose room was now his. He had done what he had always thought of as his duty, but when it came to killing Hellsing's "Police Girl," he wasn't sure he'd done God's work. Seras Victoria had made him doubt his firmly held belief that vampires did not have souls. She knew compassion. She had never murdered a human. She never lost that innocence that had marked her from their first encounter in Badrick. It had been a turning point for him when he killed her. It had felt, for the first time in his career hunting monsters, like murder.

Could it be that this was his penance for murder? A _real_ atonement, not just Alucard's attempt at revenge? Seeing it as such might be his only means of keeping a hold on sanity. He would survive to destroy Alucard and he would do it as a remembrance of the girl who had been strong enough to maintain her humanity despite what her Master – _their Master_ – had done to her.

ooo

Alex was sitting on the coffin, trying to determine just how he was going to be able to fold his long legs inside the small box when Alfonse knocked. He came in at Alex's response. "Sir Olivia has requested your presence in her office. I have come to escort you."

They walked in silence up to the first floor. On their way up to the second floor, Alex spoke, "Alfonse, would ye be the person I'd talk to about getting a…erm…bed, that fits me a wee bit better? I'm much taller than Seras was."

The younger man stopped and turned to stare coldly at Alex. "It is my understanding, sir, that you are the person responsible for the loss of Miss Victoria to the Hellsing Organization."

"And I will be paying for that for more years than ye even want to consider, youngster. I _knew_ Seras Victoria and it is my goal for now to be as decent a monster as she was. It's all I have."

Alfonse's eyes softened. "Perhaps you are not the mindless murderer that our records have made you out to be. We will talk more after you meet Sir Olivia. She has the final say as to your dispensation."

They continued to the second floor. Alfonse knocked on a closed door and opened it at a murmured response from inside. He stood aside for Alex to go in before him.

The room was light and airy. He realized that the drapes had been drawn for his comfort. It would take some time to become accustomed to fearing the sun. _Another thing I have lost through my ignorant choice._

"Over here, Father Anderson." He turned and faced the woman who had spoken to him. She was fairly tall for a woman; slender; he could see the Hellsing family resemblance, but she didn't look much like the Hellsings he'd encountered over the years. She was very fair-skinned, with jaw-length curly black hair. The feature that most distinguished her Hellsing lineage was the striking ice blue color of her eyes. She was dressed comfortably in trousers and a button-down blouse. It was not so much masculine as practical.

He bowed. "I would prefer not to be called that, Sir Hellsing. I don't think that I can be both a vampire and a priest."

"What shall I call you then?" She stepped forward and looked him over thoroughly. He felt quite exposed under her frank appraisal.

"I think that 'Judas Priest' suits him quite well," Alucard materialized from the shadows in the back of the room.

Anderson ignored the other vampire. "Alex, Alexander, Anderson, Andersong, even 'That damned Catholic,' but please, not Father Anderson, priest and _especially_ not 'Judas Priest.'" He tried not to hear Alucard's mocking laugh.

"Right. Anderson it is. Tell me, how is it that Section XIII's former trump card has come to Hellsing as a vampire?"

Alex could feel Alucard doing something to him. _He's trying to keep me from telling her the whole truth. _"Sir Hellsing, I'm here to replace someone I took from your family."

"And this is your choice, Anderson?"

"All humans have a choice, Sir Hellsing. I made mine." _There, ye damned vampire. I told her the truth and didn't let you pull my strings. If these small rebellions are all I have, I'll take them for now. I'll wait. I will kill you someday and then we'll be even._

Alucard's laughter echoed through the office as he faded from sight.


	4. Accommodation

Olivia Hellsing still wasn't sure what to make of her new man. _Man?_ Her snort was unladylike. She ignored Alfonse's disapproving glance. 

_Alucard is playing some game and I don't like it._ She could not understand how it was that _the_ Alexander Anderson was a vampire in her employ. It did not make sense. "Angel Dust" Anderson was as likely to become a vampire as any Hellsing would be. _In other words, not bloody likely._

Olivia was nothing if not practical. She had a valuable resource in Anderson, even if she didn't trust his or Alucard's motivations. She had given Alfonse permission to make him more comfortable and to see him properly armed and fed.

She would be watching both of her vampire servants. If she didn't like what she saw, she wouldn't hesitate to have Anderson put down like the undead creature he now was.

ooo

Alex had returned to his room after his first meeting with Sir Olivia feeling off-balance but somehow stronger. Alucard might have an inexplicable hold over him, but there were loopholes. Loopholes could be exploited. Alucard had demonstrated that to him to his detriment and Alex was determined to return the favor.

The first thing he was going to have to learn was how to keep that bastard out of his mind. There was no way to make any sort of plans against Alucard if he would immediately read them from the open pages of his thoughts. _I guess I have all the time in the world now, but sooner is better than later._

Sir Olivia might not look much like her ancestress, but Alex could hear Integra in her voice and the manner of her questions. If she were like Integra, he would have to be very careful with her. She would be intelligent, perceptive and unwavering in her duty.

"She is more than that, Judas Priest." Alucard's deep voice set the man's teeth on edge. Alex clenched his fists and turned to face the vampire.

"Would it be too much to ask that ye both use the door and knock on it first?" he asked through gritted teeth.

"You could try asking your Master nicely and see," but Alucard's smirk was answer enough. He held up a clattering bundle for Alex to see and then dropped it on the floor with a crash. "Your weapons, Judas Priest. You can't serve the Hellsing Organization without them."

Alex knelt over the bundle, which he recognized as his old trench coat. He pulled the heavy cloth aside. Silver shone at him, bringing back memories of the man he had once been. He reached in to pull out a knife and jerked back, hissing at the burn the silver had inflicted on his flesh. "How can I use my knives if I can't even touch them?"

"You wear gloves, you fool. Have you really reached your advanced years without learning how to work around minor problems?"

"No, vampire, I have learned to work around problems. I have worked around worse and I _will _find my way around bigger ones than a bit of silver," Alex looked at Alucard with malice and the bigger problem he intended to work around was standing in front of him, grinning maniacally.

"You haven't learned how to properly address your Master yet. If you can't learn something so simple, you shouldn't be offended that I don't expect you to learn anything more complex." Alucard stepped closer to Anderson, "Let me make this easy for you. Every time you feel the need to call me 'vampire,' 'beast,' or 'abomination,' simply replace those words with 'Master' and all will be well."

"And if I call ye 'monster,' 'demon,' or 'unclean lying filth?'"

"Then I will never teach you how to shield your mind from me. You _do_ want that, don't you? You want to be able to plot against your Master without his hearing you, don't you? Treat me as your Master and your Master will teach you what you need to know."

Anderson turned away from Alucard, filling his mind with thoughts of leather covers for the handles of his knives and swords, and ways to protect his bare skin from the blades; trying to cover the thoughts of what he really wanted to do with his holy weapons.

ooo

Alfonse had been by to take Alex's measurements. It would take a bit of time to obtain a coffin that would fit his nearly seven-foot length. He had also brought something less welcome – his "dinner."

He eyed the bag of blood dubiously. He had been staring at that bag of red fluid for the past hour, trying to weigh the costs and benefits of drinking. It wasn't as easy as he'd thought it would be to accept or dismiss his new form of nutrition.

He knew that Alucard was watching him somehow. He didn't see the vampire in his room, but his old hunting senses were reawakening and he could _feel_ Alucard's eyes on him.

That bothered him as well. He didn't know which would please Alucard more, if he drank the blood without a fight or if he resisted the need and became weak. He hated the thought of giving the creature _anything_ he wanted.

He chose to beg the question for a while and left the room to explore the mansion that would be his home. He wandered the basement first. It seemed that he and Alucard were the only residents down there. There were storage rooms and locked doors, but nothing of any real interest.

The first floor was home to some interesting artwork, including portraits of most of the heads of the Hellsing Organization over the years. He was standing in front of a portrait of Integra Hellsing when Sir Olivia found him. "You knew her, didn't you?"

"Aye." He shifted uncomfortably.

"What did you think of her?" She stood next to him, staring up at the portrait of her ancestress.

"She was a very strong woman. She once faced down more than a dozen Nazi vampires carrying machine guns with nothing more than a sword and her will. I never met her like and Iscariot has had some remarkable women. She was not easy to like, but impossible not to respect."

Olivia laughed. He looked down at her in shock. "That might be the most honest tribute to Integra I have ever heard. I've read her journals and the accounts of people who knew her. I'd have to agree. She didn't seem like a very warm person, but her strength was undeniable." She smiled at him. "She has been my role model."

"Ye'll have to forget how to laugh like that, I'm afraid."

She shook her head. "As I said, I've read her journals. She may be my role model, but I also want to learn from her mistakes. Her life would have been fuller had she made just a little time to enjoy it instead of seeing it only in the light of duty and responsibility. It might also have been longer."

Anderson was at a loss for words. He turned away from this puzzling woman back to his regard of her forebear. Integra Hellsing was a woman worthy of respect. Would her descendent be as well?

ooo

Alucard did not like their interaction at all. They were not supposed to share anything. _He_ did not share and did not wish to share either of them. They were both his in their own particular ways.

ooo

Alex returned to his room and his meal. He had enjoyed his brief conversation with Sir Olivia. She had told him where to find the library and given him permission to use it with the exception of the restricted section, which was locked away anyway.

He settled down in the chair that Alfonse had brought him and began paging through the fat tome he had brought with him from the library. He had studied vampires and the various creatures of evil, but he had never looked at them from the perspective of _being_ one.

He skimmed through the book for a while before tossing it aside with a grunt of disgust. _This isn't any help. It's the same shite I've read a thousand times before._

He looked around and his eyes settled on the bag of blood in its bed of ice. He had been thinking about his options and had come to a decision. It was better to fight a battle fully armed and at full strength than to deliberately weaken himself. He would never defeat Alucard at anything less than his full abilities.

Former priest, former paladin, former Father Alexander Anderson had his first meal of blood.

And it was sinfully delicious.


	5. Aggravation

It had been a long week since his death. Alex was starting to readjust to his youthful body. Alfonse had reopened the vampires' physical training room for him. It hadn't been used since Seras…

_Since I killed Seras._

The equipment in the exercise room was all retrofitted to withstand the sort of force a vampire would exert. Alex had taken to spending a lot of time there, working out his frustrations in exercise and knife and sword practice.

He hadn't been allowed to go into the field yet. It was understandable, but aggravating. Alucard and the Hellsing troops had been called out twice since he had been there. Nobody would tell him what was going on and it galled him to be unable to do something, _anything_ to make himself feel useful.

_If there's one thing I know, it's how to kill monsters. They've got Alexander Anderson of Iscariot; they should bloody well use him._

He shook his head at himself. The lust for battle had come back so quickly. Apparently it wasn't maturity that had taken that from him, as he'd always comforted himself; just age.

Alucard's damned taunting didn't help his restraint any. Every time he saw that smirking face, his hands itched to shove his bayonets into it. He wanted to cut Alucard into little pieces, dance on the pieces and then have them launched into the sun. _Let's see you come back from that, abomination_.

"It might be an interesting trip, Judas Priest, but not one I'm ready to take yet and not one you're able to send me on." Alex didn't look away from the target he was methodically destroying with thrown knives.

"Yet, _Master_." He was trying to use the hated word, but wouldn't say "Master" without mentally translating it to a variety of less friendly epithets.

"You're a Catholic priest. You of all people should know that just mouthing the word without meaning it isn't good enough."

"I _was_ a Catholic priest. I _was_ a servant of God. Now I'm just an abomination like you, _Master_." He threw the last bayonet and followed it with an improbable thrown sword that split the sturdy target like paper.

He walked over to retrieve his weapons. He was pleased with the covers he'd fashioned for the hafts. He was able to handle them without burning himself. He couldn't wear them against his skin the way he once had, but he and Alfonse had been working on new harnesses that would allow him to wear them close to his body without searing his unholy flesh with the blessed silver. It was a constant reminder of his fall.

"Would ye like to do some physical training? I could use a moving target." Alex's smile was all teeth and Alucard was forcibly reminded of their many meetings on less than friendly terms.

"Can you still use your little spells, Judas Priest? Those were some interesting tricks you could play. I'd be happy to see them again." Alucard's smile broadened as his fledgling's smile faded.

"I don't know. I haven't tried them yet."

"Afraid? I thought you were stronger than that. I didn't know that my Judas Priest would be afraid to just try."

Alex growled at him, but turned away. He made a show of gathering his blades, turning his back on the elder vampire. He knew that Alucard was manipulating him, trying to make him doubt; trying to make him give up. He did doubt, but he wasn't going to give the vampire the pleasure of seeing him fail and he would never give up. He could feel Alucard come up behind him, rudely close, pushing his restraint.

He ran the words of the Iscariot creed through his head as a meditation and to keep the vampire out of his mind. When he reached the words, _We are assassins!_ he turned and thrust his bayonets into his tormentor. It felt so damnably good to hurt him, even if Alex knew he couldn't kill the vampire that easily and that he would be punished. He gave two of the bayonets an extra twist and enjoyed Alucard's wince of pain as he sank to the ground.

_If only it was that easy,_ he thought to himself as he turned away. He had an itch between his shoulder blades as he awaited the vampire's retribution, but he was going to take anything that came to him unbowed and uncowed. He heard Alucard begin to laugh, then the laugh split to become a chorus of laughs which morphed into a cacophony of howls that turned him to look, almost against his will.

The room behind him was covered in living darkness. It was filled with red eyes and laughing mouths. He had seen this display from Alucard before, but it was still a horrible sight. It began to reach black tentacles out to grasp him.

He had left all of his bayonets shoved into Alucard's body. Now he was unarmed and at the mercy of one very irritated creature of hell. In desperation, he reached for something that he didn't even know would work. He reached down inside himself for the place where his holy spells had always held themselves ready for his call. At first he felt nothing and felt the first twinge of panic. Then something rose to his summons, something different, but it came.

The air was filled with a swarm of black pages. They flew at the reaching tentacles; some were severed, some were gashed and left oozing a viscous fluid. They kept reaching for Anderson, and he dipped within himself for his magic again. Another swarm of black obscured him from the many glowing red eyes. When the air cleared, both the pages and the fallen paladin were gone.

Alucard's human form reasserted itself and his laughter echoed through the entire Hellsing basement as he pulled blade after blessed blade from his pale flesh.

ooo

Alex was on the roof. He had wanted to go much farther away, but his ties to Alucard would not permit it. He didn't understand how the vampire could exert such seemingly effortless control over him, but it was indisputable that he did.

"It's very easy, Judas Priest. You are my child, and as such, your existence is dependent upon my will until I release you."

"I would be most happy if ye would release me into death. I should not be in this existence. It is anathema to everything I have upheld in my life." Alex was waiting for the punishment he had only delayed in the basement.

"Which is why it is so perfect. It is the perfect retribution. It is the perfect irony. It is perfect in all ways and delights me as few things in past centuries have."

Alex shook his head. "Aye, I know. Ye're thrilled that ye have me under yer thumb. Now, have ye come to finish punishing me for the wee slice 'n' dice downstairs?"

He grimaced at Alucard's delighted laughter. "No, I've come to tell you that I have informed Sir Olivia that you are ready for field work." He turned on his heel and left Alex to stare at his retreating figure.

Alex sat down and tried to wrap his mind around the recent goings on. Sticking knives in Alucard was a familiar activity, even if it had been a good fifty or sixty years since he had last had the pleasure. What left him most disturbed was the manifestation of his magic. It was no longer pure, but as corrupt as he was. He understood why Alucard was pleased, but it was an agony to him. The black pages were the inverse of his holy writ. The profanation of his soul was visible in every tainted sheet.


	6. Angel Dust

"Hellsing One, this is Hellsing Two, we have confirmation. Targets have been sighted."

Colonel William Walter Jacobs III, "Hellsing One" or "Colonel Jacobs" to his subordinates, "that bloody cocker" to his enemies (and a few of his subordinates,) was not pleased to be commanding another vampire. Alucard was quite enough of a pain in the arse; he never followed orders, showed up when he felt like it and left holes in buildings that were hell for the cleanup crews to cover over before the civilians were allowed back in to the battle zones he left behind.

And _this _vampire was supposedly some Section XIII legendary monster hunter? That made about as much sense as the idea of Sir Olivia as a page three girl.

Sir Olivia had told him to send the new vampire in solo and observe. His orders were to stay out of the fight entirely unless civilians were directly threatened. Otherwise, he was not to interfere unless this Anderson got himself killed. Then it would be a standard mop-up detail.

"Right. Anderson, the vampires have been spotted here." He pointed to the tactical map. "There are three females. They have not been making ghouls. If they stay true to form with similar recent activities, any human these three have killed has been destroyed with fire and is beyond any chance of rising.

"The pattern of behavior we have seen in recent activities indicates that they will likely be in possession of stolen antiquities. It is your assignment to silence the vampires and retrieve the stolen articles. We don't have any information on what they've stolen tonight. The Winston mansion was burned to the ground after they left, another signature move of this group's.

"In the name of God, impure souls of the living dead shall be banished into eternal damnation. Amen.

"Now show us what you've got, Anderson."

ooo

_On the hunt at last._ Alex was feeling much better than he had since this nightmare had begun back in his church.

He reached out to feel the vampires he was hunting. There wasn't a vampire in existence that could hide from him when they were this close. They'd need a few miles' distance before he'd have any difficulty pinpointing their exact locations. The three were just ahead, moving quickly away from where they'd first been sighted.

He ran through the streets. Even in his prime, he had not been this fast or this silent. It was a godlike high. He closed on his quarry quickly.

He spotted the women up ahead. They bore no similarity to each other, being of different heights, builds and skin color. The only unifying factor was that all three were clad in red. He was able to destroy one with several thrown bayonets before they were aware of him. He hit the other two, but they were not killing blows.

The smaller of the two pushed her companion onward, "Go on! I'll hold him." She turned and blocked Alex's progress.

"You will die here." In her hands, two swords appeared almost magically. If Alex couldn't make the same magic, he might have been impressed. Her swords were unusual. The blades were somewhat leaf-shaped and graceful. She clearly knew how to hold them.

Alex's hands sprouted blades like grass between his knuckles. He threw six bayonets at her. She dodged, and those she could not dodge, she swept aside with her swords.

Introductions made, he charged in with his two swords. The clash of metal filled the alleyway as inhuman speed met inhuman speed.

In his human days they would have been well matched. However, undeath had brought with it even greater strength and speed. He clearly had her on the defensive and found himself enjoying himself. He struck past her swords, drawing blood from her shoulder and arm. After one such attack, she got through his guard and he was surprised by the line of heat her sword drew across his side. It did not feel like the burn of silver, but actual heat, as though her sword were fresh from the forge.

He retaliated with a brutal sword thrust that caught just above the hip. She grunted, but did not give. She pushed forward on his sword and surprised him with a vicious head butt. The force of her blow pushed him away from her and jerked the sword from her flesh.

He could feel the other one drawing away. If he didn't finish this soon, she would be out of easy tracking range and he risked losing her. He threw more blades and took advantage of his opponent's attention on the smaller bayonets to close on her with his swords again. With one last rush, he was able to pierce her heart and remove her head. He bent to sweep his bayonets up as she turned to dust and he hurried on in pursuit of the last vampire.

As he ran, he took stock. He made a mental note to retrieve the weapons that must still be back at the site of the first fight. The wound on his side wasn't hurting, but it didn't feel right. He didn't have time to examine it. It could wait.

Her footsteps were loud ahead of him. She was moving faster alone than she had been with her companions. His long legs brought him within sight of her and he threw another blade. It caught her shoulder and she dropped something she was carrying.

She hesitated, clearly torn between escaping and retrieving whatever it was she had dropped. Alex used her moment of weakness to throw more knives at her. She dodged one, but was struck in the chest by two more. She pulled them out with a hiss of anger or pain and threw them aside. It was clearly too late for her to make her escape. She took a defensive stance and watched him as he neared.

He didn't see any weapons. Alex wondered if she was going to try to fight him bare handed. He knew better than to think that an unarmed vampire was helpless, but he didn't understand why she would give him the upper hand in this manner.

He advanced on her cautiously. "Ye can't be out killing humans like this, lass. I'm here to send ye to yer rest."

"I kill only those who deserve it. Something you seem to know nothing of, kinslayer." Her voice was low and filled with loathing.

He slashed at her, but she slapped the blade aside as though it were a toy rather than a deadly sharp weapon.

"Traitor." He struck again and again she avoided it.

"Heretic." She spat at him and he began to lose his grip on his temper. She was toying with him as though his blades were meaningless to her.

"Abomination." The last was hissed and struck him with a physical force. _She's playing some sort of mind tricks on me. _

He rushed her and she dodged. Everywhere he struck, she knew in advance, and was gone a hairsbreadth faster than he could move. He disengaged and they stared warily at each other again. Alex's mind was racing for a way to get her out of his head and get past her speed.

He watched as a cruel smile played across her face. "Judas Priest, he calls you. Betrayer. Apostate. _Beast!"_

"Aye, these things are all true. I can't deny them." He reached into the place his magic awaited. "But when this night is over, _I'll_ still be walking this earth and ye won't." He hit her with everything he had. She was engulfed in a wave of black pages that swirled around her, cutting her cruelly. He took his advantage and stabbed through the pages and through her. She crumbled around his swords and was no more.

He pulled the small phone from his coat and spoke, "Targets have been silenced. Their cargo has been retrieved."

He picked up the fallen object. It was a jewelry display box. In it was an amulet in the shape of a stylized eye with lacquer flames in the pupil. The flames reminded him of the pain of the one woman's sword. He checked his wound. It had healed, but it had scarred like a burn would on a human.


	7. Advances

Olivia received the report from Colonel Jacobs. Anderson had performed well and left less mess than Alucard would have. He'd also been quieter than Alucard. It was a pleasure not to have to try to cover up the damage her vampire left for a change.

They were going to have to find out what the pattern was with these recent vampire attacks. There was no easy to see pattern about the vampires themselves. About the only unifying factor in the perpetrators was that they had all been dressed in red. _Red? Isn'__t that just like a vampire?_

They weren't able to determine what sort of pattern there might be to the thefts because the trail was covered with fire in the instances where Hellsing had not arrived in time to silence the vampires. On two occasions, Alucard had retrieved objects from the vampires, but they didn't seem to have any pattern, even with this third object – the amulet – added in. There had to be more to this than they were seeing.

She looked at photos of the three items that had been retrieved: _Judith Slaying Holofernes _by Artemisia Gentileschi; a headless black statue about a hand's height in size, and the amulet. They were from different eras, different countries, different subject matter and even different quality.

The amulet seemed rather cheap to have enough value for the vampires to steal. They had not identified its provenance, but the experts she had looking at it dated it as around four hundred years old, possibly from Greece or Turkey.

The painting was a subject that would appeal to vampires in some ways. The amount of blood was "appetizing" according to Alucard. The artist was an Italian woman who was perhaps better known for the scandal surrounding her rape by a teacher than for her exquisitely rendered paintings. It dated from approximately 1640.

The statue appeared to be Egyptian in origin. Olivia had an Egyptologist looking into it. He had tentatively identified it as Bastet or maybe Sekhmet. The age was indeterminate as well, but he was giving her an educated guess of more than two thousand years old.

She was very frustrated by the ambiguities and lack of concrete answers she was getting even from her highly-paid experts. People were dying because of her ignorance and it weighed on her heavily.

She began to tap at her computer, entering the latest information and directing questions to resources around the world. _When you don't have answers, work until you make the answers._ Sir Integra had written that and it applied perfectly well at the moment.

ooo

Alex was examining his new scar in the mirror. He was surprised. He hadn't scarred since he became a regenerator. Since becoming a vampire, if anything, his regeneration seemed enhanced. Why then, did he have this burn scar? Things always happened too quickly during battle to give them the sort of analysis they needed after.

He almost wished that Alucard would show up so he could ask him about this strange turn of events.

"'Hitherto you have not asked any thing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full,'" spoke the shadows as they coalesced into the hated form of his enemy.

"Must ye blaspheme? Is it so much to ask that ye merely refrain from such willful heresies?"

"Would you rather I moved on to different sins?" Alucard moved to stand directly behind Alex. He ran his hands down the other man's sides before he could jerk back. He spun around and pushed Alucard back.

"What is your problem, Judas Priest? Didn't you want me to come examine this interesting new scar of yours?"

"Ye can examine without touching, and I _know_ I did not want ye to come and lay yer filthy hands on me."

"Even as your Master, some things are still easier with physical contact. There are times when you're going to have to trust me and this would be one of them." Alucard stepped uncomfortably close again.

"I didn't want to know that badly." Alex stepped away from Alucard.

"I did not ask if you wanted to know. This is piece of the puzzle and whether you want me to touch you or not is irrelevant to the need to know what caused your wound and scar. For that, I will need to touch it. You either permit me to do it, or I make you."

Alex remembered Alucard's demonstration of his power over him on his first day. He knew that the vampire would drop him like a rag doll at his will. He drew himself up and forced himself to stand still as Alucard smirked and stepped up to him again. _Close your eyes and think of England._

Alex scowled at the mental intrusion. "We're definitely not going that far. Ye can't tell me that ye need _that_ to get information about my scar." He flinched at the feel of the vampire's cold touch on his bare skin. It felt like dry slugs moving across his flesh.

"Dry slugs? That's one of the less complimentary comparisons I've gotten." Alucard bent his face closer to Alex's side. His breath as he spoke was cold and Alex discovered for the first time that vampires could get goosebumps.

"Well, if ye'd stay out of my head, ye wouldn't have to hear it. Can ye hurry this up?"

"Hot date, Judas Priest?" Now Alucard seemed almost to be smelling around the scar.

"No. I just really need a shower now," he stepped away again and pulled his shirt down.

"A cold shower? I didn't know you cared."

"Stop with the cheap teasing, _Master_, ye know that's a sin that has never tempted me. Ye have many less childish ways to torment me."

"Never? How disappointing. Well, we have all the time in the world." Alucard's mocking laugh faded along with his form.

_Damn! That hellish monster didn't even tell me if he found anything._

ooo

"Good evening, Miss Hellsing."

Olivia didn't turn. From the direction of his voice, he was probably doing that annoying upside-down bat imitation.

"I don't remember summoning you, Alucard." Family history had warned about showing anything other than mastery to the vampire. The attitude had served her well over the past eight years.

"I have come to file an addendum to the report of tonight's activities."

"Right. Get to it. I have too much to do to waste time playing dominance games with you tonight. Do you have something useful or are you just bored?"

"Oh I'm not bored, Master. It's impossible to be bored with my new friend in the house."

"Anderson? I received good reports of his performance tonight. He even caused less collateral damage than you would have."

"Are we going to discuss my fledgling's abilities or shall I give you the information?" Alucard was nettled by the comparison with Anderson.

"Give me the information, Alucard. What do you have to contribute to the report when you weren't even part of the mission tonight?"

"Anderson was damaged by one of the vampires. The wound healed properly, but scarred in a manner that it should not have. I have examined it and found traces of a magic I do not recognize."

"Traces? Have they left some spell on him?" She was alarmed at the possibility of a vampire enchanted by an enemy in her stronghold.

"No, the traces are more the residual energy from the magic. The woman who attacked him with the swords either used a magic of her own, or the swords were enchanted in some manner. I assume that someone retrieved the weapons?"

"Yes, they're down in the evidence room. You have my permission to examine them. Report back when you have finished." She felt him withdraw.

Alfonse tapped on her door and entered. "Sir Olivia, we've had a communication from the Vatican. Apparently they have heard some rumor that we might know about their missing paladin."

* * *

_A/N Go take a look at _Judith Slaying Holofernes_. It's out on the net, just a quick google away. _  



	8. Argument

"They had to look for me eventually."

Sir Olivia was pacing the floor of Anderson's room. Alfonse had briefed her on Iscariot's inquiries and she had come directly to him. Unusual, but not unheard of in the Hellsing Organization. Sir Olivia was not as much of a stickler for formalities as some of her forebears.

"I blame myself. I should have known that there'd be a rotten piece in the fruit he'd dropped in my lap. Anderson, why did you not inform me that you had not actually severed your ties with the Church and Iscariot?"

He shook his head at her. "Ye should talk to Alucard about that."

"I am asking you. If he is your Master," he lifted a lip in disgust, "I am _his_ Master. Ultimately, you will answer to me. Now tell me."

"I told ye. I chose to become a vampire. I just didn't tell ye the circumstances. He didn't give me time to say my goodbyes or sever my ties with the Church. This came on me in a matter of minutes, not hours or days or years."

"You're still holding back." She scowled when he shook his head at her. "Alucard!"

"You called, my Master?" Where there had been shadow, there was now the vampire.

"Oh shut up. You only get obsequious when you know you're in trouble. You're going to tell me exactly how Alexander Anderson came to be a vampire or I am going to lock you up, throw away the key and destroy every reference to you in existence. You can spend the rest of the lifetime of this building alone and starved in a cell. You have endangered my organization and _I will know why!"_ She had advanced on him as she spoke and almost shouted the last words in his face.

"The Judas Priest chose to become a vampire as restitution for his murder of Seras Victoria. I came to him, we spoke, I told him to choose and he did. We left his church and his parish and came here. Since then, he has been busy acclimating to his new existence. I assume that Iscariot spotted him when he was out tonight. You have to give them credit for their information gathering."

"That is an entirely inadequate response. I'm asking both of you, right now, tell me the whole story because I do _not_ make empty threats and I am out of patience with this game. Anderson? Alucard?"

Anderson looked at his putative Master. Alucard grinned back at him. "Go ahead, Judas Priest."

Alex was surprised. He'd expected Alucard to keep playing this stupid game and to mess with his mind to keep him from telling the whole story. "I was at my church. Alucard came and told me that he was going to make one of the children of my parish into a vampire in retribution for my killing Seras unless I chose to go with him. I couldn't allow one of my children to be damned for something I had done, so I chose to become a vampire. After that, we came here and I have not been able to determine the best way to deal with the Church."

"First question then, Anderson. Why didn't you tell me this to start with?" Anderson looked pointedly at Alucard in response.

"Second question. You believed Alucard's lie?" She had caught the lie immediately.

"I haven't paid attention to the goings on of the Hellsings and their abomination in nigh on fifty years. I retired from monster hunting a long time ago. When he made his threats, it was clear to me that the well-being of the children whose souls have been entrusted to me was more important than my soul."

"Third question. What will Iscariot do when they find out indisputably that you are a vampire?"

"They'll send someone to kill me. I'm an abomination in the eyes of God and deserve to be destroyed."

Olivia raised an eyebrow but continued, "Fourth. What repercussions can Hellsing expect?"

"I don't know. I'm not familiar with the current Iscariot leadership. After Enrico Maxwell's fall almost a hundred years ago, they have tended to choose more moderate leaders. You probably know more about the current Iscariot leadership than I do."

"Fifth," and this she directed to Alucard. "What should I do with a vampire who lies to his master and endangers our organization? Anderson may have _technically_ chosen his fate, but the fact of the matter is that you made an unwilling human into a vampire."

"I have not told you a single lie, Master, and I would argue whether Anderson was a human."

"Lies of omission count, Alucard and we are not here to debate Anderson's former state of humanity or lack thereof."

"Then I suppose it is up to my Master to determine my punishment."

"We'll get to that. Last," and she turned back to Anderson, her demeanor less harsh, "What do you want us to do with you, Alexander Anderson? You have been wronged by my servant."

"I want to kill him, Sir Olivia. I want to kill him and see his unclean soul roast in the deepest pits of Hell!"

"I can empathize, Alexander, but with all due respect, I don't think you are capable of doing that. Maybe you will be able to with time, but not as you are now.

"What do we do with _you?_ Do you want us to simply turn you over to Iscariot for termination? We could do that for you here. Or you could stay with the Organization. As long as you abide by the guidelines we have for servant vampires, you would be allowed to continue your monster hunting and killing."

"I have an additional problem, Sir Hellsing."

"Which is?"

"The ties that bind me to Alucard are strait. Do you know how much control he has over me?"

She frowned at him, "Control? I knew he had influence, but you're telling me he has _control_ of you?"

Alucard cut in, "The Master has complete control of his fledgling if he so chooses. I was able to allow Seras Victoria relatively free rein because she was overall very compliant. The Judas Priest is the opposite of compliant and I have had to demonstrate my mastery to him on several occasions."

"How is it that you have such complete control over him and how can it be lifted?"

"When a vampire is made, part of the process is the taking of the person's soul into the master vampire. Then, the soul is fed back into the fledgling through the Master's blood. However, a small piece of the soul remains with the Master until the Master chooses to release it. That is the connection that allows me to have such influence over our priest here. It is also a safety measure. A newly turned vampire is a dangerous thing. The control allows the Master to avoid dangerous 'outbursts' from their child."

"Then you could release him?"

"I could, but I will not."

Olivia closed her eyes as though her head pained her. Alex thought it probably did. Alucard was enough to give _him_ a headache. "Why will you not release him, Alucard?"

"Because he is mine and he is not ready."

"I am not yours and I am damned well ready to be free of you, you blasphemous abomination!"

"Be that as it may, you are not ready to be an unrestricted vampire and whether you like it or not, you _are _mine. My blood flows through your veins and it is by my will that you exist."

"And it is by _my_ will that _you_ exist, Alucard." Olivia was glaring at her servant. "Now I have to think of an appropriate punishment for you."

"I wouldn't be too hasty with thoughts of whips, chains and ensorcelled rooms were I you, Master. There's trouble brewing and you'll need me and our Judas Priest to come through it."

"Are you making threats, Alucard?"

"No, Master, merely stating a fact. I was examining those swords when you summoned me down here. It has been a long time since I encountered vampires wielding magic other than that which comes with undeath. Other than myself and the Judas Priest, that is.

"The swords are not enchanted, which means that the vampire Anderson eliminated was the source of the taint I found on him. She was merely a minion. If that's the quality of servant her master has, the master will be formidable indeed." His smile showed an unnatural number of teeth, "It promises to be a good year."


	9. Negotiations

Alex stared at the telephone Alfonse had brought him. _This will be a telephone call to remember. I can hear it now: May I speak to Bishop Traversera? Yes, Monseigneur, this is Alexander Anderson. I just wanted to call ye and tell ye that I've become an accursed servant of Satan and will be working for the Hellsing Organization as one of their pet attack vampires. Could ye do me a favor and not have me executed like the unclean filth I am until I've killed Alucard?_

_Aye, that's going to go over well. _

He punched in the numbers and waited through the endless ringing. He then waded through the protective layers of bureaucrats until he was finally connected to Bishop Angelo Traversera, the current head of Section XIII.

Sir Olivia had not given him the option of delaying any longer. It was her direct order that he contact Iscariot immediately and tell them whatever was necessary. She had left the offer of allowing him to leave hanging, but they both knew he wouldn't be taking it as long as Alucard held his leash.

"Anderson? Alexander Anderson? Where have you gotten to? I have some very difficult to believe intelligence here about you." Alex had met Bishop Traversera once when he had come to Iscariot's Vatican headquarters to give a lecture to the new crop of hunters. There's no such thing as ever truly leaving Iscariot, although one's duties might take one elsewhere, as they had with Alex.

"Aye. It's a story only an Iscariot would believe, Monseigneur. I have a problem."

ooo

An hour and a half later, Alex wasn't sure where he stood with Iscariot. He knew where he stood with the Church. He would be immediately excommunicated and interdicted from entering a church. He'd known it was coming. There were no other choices. It didn't make him any less miserable.

Bishop Traversera had been appalled. Anderson had endured his (former) superior's remonstrations. Traversera had not said anything Anderson himself had not said to vampires during his long career, but it was different being on the receiving end.

The bishop had toned down the rhetoric a little when Anderson told him of his reasons for making his choice. Nobody could doubt Alexander Anderson's commitment to the wellbeing of the children in his care.

He had made no commitment to leave Hellsing, Alucard or Anderson alone, but had offered to arrange an acceptable story to feed to the congregation and general public about Anderson's disappearance and subsequent tragic accidental death. It was disconcerting to consider that his funeral would be held in a few days' time and he wouldn't be in the coffin they buried. He was grateful for the cover story, at least. "His" children would never have to know the depths to which he had fallen.

The head of Iscariot had ended their conversation with a less-than-comforting comment about discussing restitution and reprisal with Sir Olivia in the _very_ near future.

He put his head in his hands and began to pray.

ooo

Alucard watched from the mirror. Anderson's anguish was deeply satisfying. He'd anticipated almost all of Anderson's reactions so far; he had anticipated the reaction from Iscariot; he was eagerly awaiting Iscariot hunters sent to punish him and destroy Anderson. The new threats from this group of thieving vampires and their interesting abilities were just icing on a huge, blood-soaked cake.

He left his favorite toy to his pain and went in search of Sir Olivia. He had a feeling she'd be getting an urgent phone call very soon and he wanted to see her handle it. She thought she was so strong, but that could be a weakness of its own.

ooo

Olivia was having a very unsatisfying telephone conversation with Angelo Traversera. He was doing an excellent job of being threatening and insulting without being direct about it. What was most frustrating was that she was in the weaker position because there was no arguing with the fact that _her_ servant had overstepped his bounds. _Overstepped his bounds? He made a bloody Iscariot paladin into a vampire! _Not for the first time she wished he wasn't so useful.

She made a rude gesture at the speakerphone before she closed her eyes and allowed his continued _bitching_ to wash over her. He would have to get this out of his system before they could get down to the business of negotiating reparations for the Hellsing Organization's failure to control its vampire. _Her_ failure.

She could feel Alucard's arrival. She didn't want Traversera to hear her address him, so she just motioned him to the chair he usually favored. He might as well hear this. She was hoping Traversera would have some interesting suggestions for Alucard's punishment.

Images of Iscariot reviving old methods from the Inquisition for her errant vampire were enough to help her mood considerably. For once, she was hoping Alucard _was_ eavesdropping on her thoughts.

She opened her eyes as Traversera seemed to be winding down his tirade against vampires, Protestants and weak leaders who couldn't even control their servants. She was very tempted to throw a paperweight at Alucard's smirking face. Instead she just scowled at him.

"Angelo, I have no argument. What Alucard did was unconscionable. I have offered Anderson the opportunity to leave here, either to submit to execution by Iscariot or the less likely option that your Church would allow him to resume his duties. He has declined and chosen," she ignored Alucard's raised eyebrow, "to stay here with us. We will ensure that he does not endanger humans and he will be able to continue the battle he had to leave behind due to age."

She tuned out Traversera's outraged response until he heard his voice change, "…will be there in 24 hours."

"Like hell! Angelo, I'm trying to be reasonable here, but you _will not_ send your assassins onto British soil to execute Alexander Anderson. He will not be allowed to harm humans and he will serve the greater good by eliminating garbage vampires." She looked directly into Alucard's eyes as she spoke, "He wants to stay here until he is strong enough to destroy Alucard and I am of a mind to allow him his chance at revenge." This time it was Olivia who smirked and Alucard who scowled.

The rest of the conversation was less rewarding. Olivia made some concessions to Traversera regarding Iscariot's actions in Ireland and agreed to share information with them regarding any patterns of vampire activity they noted. In return, Traversera made a half-hearted promise not to send any agents to England with the express intent of destroying Anderson or Alucard. Olivia didn't trust him on that, but it was better than a full scale war with Section XIII over something that was ultimately her responsibility.

ooo

"You don't believe that Catholic when he says he won't send any assassins, do you?"

"Of course not, Alucard. This arrangement allows both organizations to save face, though. Hellsing and Iscariot have publicly made their peace and that benefits us in more than one way. It means that Iscariot cannot attack us overtly, which also limits the amount of force they can use. I have no concern that they are able to harm you in any lasting manner and if Anderson can't take care of a few Iscariot assassins, I don't really want to be harboring his weakness at my breast."

Alucard watched her as she ignored him and returned to her paperwork. She was interesting, but annoying. He had spent her whole life trying to subvert her commitment to Hellsing and to her humanity. He hadn't gotten very far.

She was different from her predecessors. He thought the difference lay in the fact that she still had a living parent. Most Hellsings lost both parents to disease, enemy vampires and the occasional strategically arranged "accident." Beatrice Hellsing née Vanderpoort was an exception. She stood by her daughter during the first four years of her leadership, providing her with strength and acceptance. When Olivia turned eighteen, Beatrice left England and returned to her native Netherlands. She told her daughter that Olivia didn't need the distraction of worrying about her mother when she had the work of running Hellsing. They still spoke often.

He hated that woman. She had come between him and Samuel Hellsing when she married him. She had provided a careful counterbalance for Olivia to all of Alucard's efforts to mold the girl as he wanted her. He loathed her for her interference.

Sir Samuel was a clever man. He had given Alucard such explicit orders regarding Beatrice that there was nothing the vampire could do to twist them, subvert them or find a loophole that would allow him to harm or arrange any sort of harm to her. He had been forced to actively _protect _the woman on one occasion because of the specificity of Samuel's orders.

His only consolation was that nobody had understood what it was that Samuel had done that broke the seeming curse on Hellsing spouses. When Olivia got around to marrying, her husband wouldn't be as fortunate as her mother.

Olivia glanced up from her paperwork to him now and then. She wondered about the meaning of the catlike smile he wore, but didn't think it worth asking.


	10. Parallels

They had their first break in the series of vampire-perpetrated thefts and arsons. The pattern that Olivia was trying so hard to find was starting to come together. All of the people who had been robbed had property insurance. In order to document and insure valuable and unique properties such as Egyptian artifacts or Renaissance paintings, the owners had pictures submitted along with the policy. The pattern wasn't clear yet, but they were starting to see overlaps between the three objects Hellsing had retrieved and items unaccounted for from the burned estates, but documented in the insurance papers.

Egyptian artifacts are less unusual than the paintings of Artemisia Gentileschi, who painted fewer than forty-five attributed paintings in her lifetime. Five of the seven burned estates had insured Egyptian antiquities of varying eras and subject matter. Three of the seven had housed paintings by Gentileschi. It wasn't a pattern that made sense, but it was a pattern. Two of the seven had overlaps of both paintings by Gentileschi and Egyptian artifacts. They had not identified anything from the single estate that had neither a painting nor Egyptian objects that fit the pattern. Nor had they found any way that the amulet fit into the vague pattern that was emerging.

They couldn't watch every noble estate that housed something from Egypt. Great Britain had looted so much from Egypt that there was hardly a noble house that didn't have something. Certainly, the Hellsing mansion was no exception, although the items were of a more esoteric nature than most nobles collected.

However, there were only two more Gentileschi paintings in England and Olivia had placed teams to keep those under surveillance. She was tracking the other paintings internationally to determine whether they were being stolen abroad as well. Many were in the hands of private collectors and were difficult to locate.

After a great deal of internal debate, Olivia had dispatched Anderson and Alucard with the teams watching the two locations. She was afraid it would be overkill, but she was more concerned about minimizing future loss of human life and trying to actually capture one of these thieving vampires.

ooo

_Boring. This is bloody boring. _Anderson would have been appalled, and Alucard would have been amused, to know that they were both thinking the same thing about sitting around keeping watch over a sleeping family of privileged British aristocrats.

Sir Olivia had sent them off to their respective stakeouts _- a smirk from Alucard at the term - _with an unnecessary warning about preserving human life and an order to attempt to keep a member of the expected team of vampires alive for questioning. The Hellsing troops' orders were to get the human occupants out of the buildings and leave Anderson and Alucard to deal with the vampires.

After three frustrating nights, Alucard was ready to shoot the next thing that moved, regardless of its origin. Anderson was considering taking up whittling as a hobby. He smiled ruefully at his whimsy. _Just what my blessed silver bayonets were intended for._ Mirroring each other many miles apart, both vampires stared over the shoulders of the soldiers monitoring the equipment trained on the houses.

Alex stepped out of the modified lorry that served as a command center. He had to stretch his legs and get out of that claustrophobic space that reeked of humans and their blood. It made him horribly uncomfortable when his sense of humanity would slip and the men would start to smell like food. He didn't need to worry about being out of touch. After the first mission where they'd given him an antiquated phone _(don't waste real equipment on the expendable, eh?)_ he'd been outfitted with a proper comm patch. He didn't like the way it felt, stuck to the skin behind his ear, but it would monitor and record everything he said, relaying anything prefaced with the proper keyword to the commander. It was efficient, but it _itched_.

Alucard stared at the night sky. He couldn't stand being in such close areas with things that smelled like dinner. They'd call if they saw anything. He stood and watched the clouds as they alternately obscured and exposed the stars. _It's a pity there's no moon tonight, there's something in the air that would go well with moonlight._

At the separate estates, the two vampires left to scout around. Alucard was confident in his ability to be indistinguishable from shadow; Anderson told himself he needed to refresh old stalking skills.

The shadows writhed unnaturally as three figures silently slipped past them, intent on their target.

As Alex drew farther away from the Hellsing operatives, he began to feel his hackles rise in a manner that told him he had company. He continued away from the humans, hoping to draw his target away from the more vulnerable Hellsing members.

A voice spun the three vampires around, two of them suddenly holding swords. "What sort of vampires sneak into human homes at night to loot and burn?" Alucard stepped out of a darkness even their eyes could not penetrate and looked at them scornfully.

"Father Anderson, we are here to save your soul." Alex had heard them coming, he had _smelled _them coming. If he had always been so obvious to Alucard's senses as these Iscariots were to his, it was clear that most of their battles had been just a way of playing for the elder vampire.

o

The unarmed vampire spoke as his two companions moved to flank him, "What sort of vampire debases himself to a human and murders his own kind?" On an unspoken signal, the two with swords charged.

o

"My soul? It's too late to save my soul." The fallen paladin turned to face his would-be assassins. He smiled to emphasize his wickedly sharp teeth. "I've already traveled down that well-paved road to Hell, children. Don't make me add taking yer lives to my list of sins." The smaller of the two Iscariots raised his gun and fired.

o

Alucard dropped one of his two attackers with shots snapped off quickly to the man's head and heart. The other was upon him as he shifted his aim. He blocked a vicious cut with his forearm and was rewarded with a searing pain. He grinned at the woman wielding the swords, "More magic? Wonderful!"

The next time she cut at him, he allowed her to strike again. This time he shifted himself _around_ the sword and trapped the blade inside his incoherent limb. She dropped the ensnared blade and struck with her remaining sword. The woman's sword pierced Alucard's stomach and it _burned_, but her attack had left her open to his counterattack. His hand had penetrated her heart and burst through her back and she dropped away around his outstretched hand. He plucked the two swords from his body and looked at the remaining vampire, "That hurt," he said mildly.

o

Alex felt the bullet hit with a familiar sick pain that spread from the point of impact, but he'd taken direct shots from Alucard's Casull without stopping and this man's gun was not equal to the elder vampire's hand cannon. He was stepping forward to engage his former spiritual kindred when a new agony asserted itself with the pain of the bullet. He pushed it away, but had a sick feeling he knew what it was - blessed silver in his unholy flesh. "Did Traversera tell ye nothing of me?"

The two men didn't speak, just opened fire. This time Alex used his new inhuman speed to move almost faster than they could see. He spoke from behind them and smiled as they whirled around, "I was killing vampires when yer grandparents were pissing themselves the _first_ time."

The larger man holstered his gun. "Yes, the bishop told us about you, Alexander Anderson. It's a black mark on Iscariot and the Church to have one of its greatest champions fall as you have. How can you stand yourself as the unholy beast you are now? Did your shame go with you into death?" He drew a sword and took a ready stance in front of Anderson.

The smaller man had moved away from his companion, out of range of Anderson's reach if he chose to engage the man with the sword. A classic tactic to force Anderson be able to only reach one foe or the other, not both at the same time. It didn't do him any good because Anderson chose to take out the enemy with the ranged weapon first.

He rushed the small priest with the gun. He did not want to kill an Iscariot. He did not want to fall even lower. Instead of cutting the man, he turned his bayonet and struck him between the eyes with the butt. It cost him several more burning bullet wounds in the chest and stomach, but the man crumpled to the ground, hopefully wounded, not dead.

o

Alucard glided across the ground toward the remaining vampire. He could feel the man attempting to rummage around in his head. Alucard threw his head back and laughed at this _infant's_ temerity. "Trying to get inside _my_ head?" He disappeared. "Do you really think that's wise?" he purred into the man's ear from where he had rematerialized behind him.

The vampire whirled around and slapped his hand on Alucard's stomach where the woman's sword had pierced him. He pulled his hand back dripping with Alucard's blood and quickly licked it off of his hand. Alucard watched with amusement as the man's eyes widened with horror.

"I told you it wasn't wise to try to get inside my head," he chortled as he advanced on the now terrified vampire.

o

Alex's eyes snapped away from the man on the ground to his chest where a silver blade had suddenly erupted. He grunted and threw himself forward and off of the sword on which he had been impaled. He rolled off the ground and faced his attacker. Blue eyes met red and Anderson was hit with a painful wave of déjà vu. He'd been here so many times before, but this was the first time he was on the side of the devils and his enemy on that of the angels.

"Father Anderson, remember what you were. You know you can't go on like this. It is an –"

"- abomination in the sight of God." Anderson finished for him. "I know, and I haven't forgotten." He watched the man watch him as he sheathed his bayonets. "But I still have work to do. There's not an Iscariot alive," he smiled ruefully, "or undead, who can kill the demon Alucard. I will carry the burden of this unnatural existence until I achieve that worthy goal."

"I can't just let you go."

"I know." Alex smiled at him again and launched his attack. He met every sword blow with a deflection or by simply catching the blade in his flesh, ignoring the pain and bleeding. He'd been fighting with blades for well over a hundred years and there were no surprises this pup could bring him. He battered the sword away from his opponent's grasp and caught him a brutal blow to the head. He said a quick prayer he hadn't crushed the man's skull as he dropped to the leafy ground.

He quickly searched both men and took their weapons and passports. "Control, we have two human trespassers here. Please send a team to take them into custody and escort them to the Vatican embassy." He gave his location and settled in to watch over the two unconscious men.

ooo

Alex and Alucard both returned to Hellsing pleased with themselves. Alucard had had a fine meal that evening and Alex had stopped two assassins sent to execute him without compromising himself by killing them.

Alucard's unique method of travel had brought him back to the mansion well before Anderson. He was amused by Sir Olivia's initial reaction.

"I told you to capture one of the thieves, not eat him, Alucard!" She slapped her hand on the desk and glared at him.

"I did both, Master."

"Stop being insufferably oblique and tell me what you mean." Olivia calmed herself with images of thumbscrews and the rack. It would be life-threatening to try what she was thinking on Alucard, but was soothing to contemplate.

"And stop smirking!"

"Of course, Master." Alucard pulled his face into a sober expression that somehow managed to still be mocking. "You _should _be aware from family records that I don't take just blood from my prey when I feed. I have young Master Vittorini with me even as we speak."

"You're still being obscure. Is this Vittorini hiding in the shadows or are you just going to show me his severed head as proof of his presence?"

"For someone who prides herself on her knowledge of family history, you've missed an important piece. 'The blood is the coin of the soul.' Vittorini is in me, with me, and will be mine until I no longer exist or I choose to free him. What he knows, I know. You have but to ask and I will answer…my Master."


	11. Not Bomb

Angelo Traversera glared at the fat envelope in front of him. **NOT BOMB** was stamped on it in large red letters. The Hellsing crest imprinted in an antiquated wax seal was the source of his anger.

He broke the seal and turned the envelope over. Two Vatican passports and a file folder fell out on his desk. He didn't look at the passports; his agents had already reported to him the result of their encounter with Anderson. Traversera tossed them at his aide and the small man hurried out of the room.

Alone in his office, Traversera looked at the folder as though it were the bomb it had claimed not to be. On top of the papers inside was a handwritten note:

_My dear Angelo,_

_It has come to my attention that you are having difficulties with your dogs. I would suggest, as a person who is also familiar with problems with pets, that you beware the amount of slack you permit them. The next time they slip the leash, there is no guarantee your hounds won't be put down by the proper authorities. That would be pity to all of us who care about a good hunter._

The Iscariot bishop flushed at her veiled threat. The woman was unendurable. She was too young and too…female…to hold a position of such power. He turned back to the letter.

_In the spirit of our agreement, I am forwarding you information regarding a pattern of vampire activity we have found here in England. I have included hardcopy as well as a data card for your use. _

_May God and His Majesty go with you,  
Sir Olivia Vanderpoort Hellsing_

Traversera scanned the documents the Hellsing woman had sent and buzzed an aide to take the card for analysis in their data section. Her information was comprehensive and concisely arranged. The stick and the carrot. It was not a subtle message, but he gave her credit for sending a clear one.

After reading for more than an hour, the bishop sat back and organized his thoughts and understanding of the information Hellsing had provided.

_A cult of magic-wielding vampires who think their leader is the incarnation of Sekhmet? How much worse can this get?_

ooo

Alucard watched his Master from the shadows. She already knew he was there, but she wasn't acknowledging him. He enjoyed this game they played – he would do things he knew annoyed her, she would reciprocate with gratifyingly graphic fantasies about torturing him or locking him away. She thought they kept her strong and independent, but Alucard saw them as encouraging steps toward becoming more like him. Alucard knew she didn't think about him like that in unguarded moments, but that was a matter for a time when he didn't have so much else to keep him from being bored.

She was compiling every reference she could from the information he'd given her from Vittorini. Because the cult was organized in cells similar to those of a terrorist group, they couldn't just track down the other members and exterminate them. The leader kept her identity concealed under a lioness-head mask of Sekhmet, which didn't help their efforts in treating the infection at its source.

Understanding the cult aspect of these vampires explained the thefts of the Egyptian artifacts, but did nothing to shed light on the amulet or the theft of the Gentileschi paintings. Vittorini didn't know, therefore Alucard did not know.

He _had_ learned the secret of the burning cuts the sword-wielding vampires had inflicted. A minor magic, at best, that channeled a vampire's unnatural energy into heat, or even fire. A blow with one of those swords against a human would turn that person into a torch.

The mysterious leader always sent out two sword-trained vampires and one older vampire that was accomplished with mental attacks. It was usually a very competent arrangement, if they weren't up against a vampire of Alucard's strength, or one with Anderson's unique skills.

Speaking of his errant child…

ooo

Alex had not so much decorated his room as turned it into an armory. Alucard had not retrieved all of Alex's weaponry that first night because not all of it had been stored at his old church. With proper directions, his "Master" had agreed to retrieve the rest of his substantial arsenal. Alex's reasoning was that he would never again be able to put a blessing on a new blade, so it was a good idea to keep, and take care of, what he already had.

One of the few off-duty pleasures Paladin Alexander Anderson had had was sitting alone in his room, lovingly polishing and sharpening weapon after weapon; praying and running his hands over each one to test its strength and sharpness. That pleasure was now denied Alex by his unholy condition. Caressing his blades now would result in painful burns instead of a soothing meditation.

Which left the man _(vampire)_ at loose ends when he didn't have duties for Hellsing. Exercise and sword practice could only take him so far.

"Getting bored so soon, Judas Priest? Most vampires find ways to keep themselves amused for at least the first lifetime."

"I've already had more than a full lifetime, and the entire foundation of that life has been taken from me." And then, almost an afterthought, "Master."

He scowled as his Master burst into gales of laughter. It took all of his self-control not to grab one of the many waiting blades off the wall and throw it at the source of most of his pain. _Why shouldn't I?_ As fast as the thought was in his mind, his hands were grabbing bayonets and hurling them at the laughing vampire. He burned his uncovered hands in the process, but it was worth it. He stripped the rack next to him and grabbed a sword before Alucard had jerked out of his surprise at the attack. _If he doesn't want me to attack him, I know he can stop me._

Alex rushed across the room and threw his entire strength behind a blow that would have cut the vampire in two if he'd still been standing there. He didn't even slow his movement when he felt Alucard's gun shoved into his spine. He spun into another slash as the deafening report of the Jackal's fire preceded a violent shattering of most of the ribs on his right side. He ignored the pain and kept coming, cutting pieces off of the man in red. The orphaned pieces writhed horribly on the floor before wiggling back to rejoin their source.

He knew Alucard was still laughing at him, his rage didn't care. It was the same battle-blind joy that had goaded him into attacking with a bayonet in his teeth after this same creature had blasted off both of Anderson's arms.

He heard Alucard laugh, "There's an idea!" The gun sounded again and his right arm fell away. Alex took over the sword in a left-handed hold that drove it into Alucard's chest. He felt his Master's gun shove up into his left armpit and the next shot left him in a position he'd been in before with the vampire - armless and raging.

"What are you going to do, Judas Priest? Chew me to death?" The first time Alucard had asked that question, it had been rhetorical, but this time Alex lunged at Alucard and caught him with his teeth. He latched on like an angry dog and tore at Alucard's neck. He had the first tantalizing taste of his Master's blood before Alucard pulled him away and flung him across the room to crash against the door.

The door smacked against Alex's body and was shoved open by an anxious, and armed, Alfonse. The butler surveyed the room, taking in Alucard standing with his throat torn up, riddled with bayonets, and a sword protruding from his chest; before catching sight of an armless Alex, who was just rolling off the floor from where he'd been pushed aside by the door. "_What_ is going on in here?"

"Just a training exercise," Alucard responded smoothly as he pulled the sword out of his chest with a slight grunt. "We'll both be fine, but you could bring Anderson some extra blood with his meal. Oh, and a straw for him as well."

"Alucard, I believe that I can speak for Sir Olivia in mentioning that there are rooms better suited for these sorts of…ahem…exercises." He stared at Anderson. "Will you recover from this, Mr. Anderson?"

Alex leaned heavily against the wall. "Oh aye, I've done it before. I just hope I don't get a bad itch in the next few hours." He clamped his mouth down against a grin as he watched Alfonse's shocked expression quirk up into a smile. He felt better than he should, given his condition.

He grinned at Alucard, "Want to do this again tomorrow?"


	12. Extortion

Olivia had received reports that both the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and Casa Buonarroti in Florence had been robbed of the Gentileschi paintings that they had on display. At least the museums had not been burned. She had successfully negotiated with the owners of the two paintings remaining in England to put them in protective custody at the Hellsing estate. Both families were "coincidentally" now on holiday out of the country at her suggestion.

The Hellsing guard were on high alert and Alucard and Anderson were ordered to ensure that one vampire was always on guard duty at the estate during night hours. Unsurprisingly, Alucard left Anderson to take the majority of the watch time. Two weeks had passed during which more paintings were reported stolen abroad, but organized vampire activity on English soil had come to a standstill.

Alex took his assignment as an excuse to wander the Hellsing grounds. It was a decent enough way to spend the nights. He was expecting to see more representatives of Iscariot soon and wanted to lure them out away from the vulnerable human troops. He, better than any, knew that they couldn't just let the fact of his vampirism slide. They would feel duty-bound to put him out of his misery. He just couldn't allow that yet.

Alex didn't like admitting to himself that he was acclimating to his new life. He hated admitting just how much being able to hunt and kill made him feel like the old Alexander Anderson. The man he'd been was very different from the peaceful cleric he'd become with age. Now that the killer was back, he had to acknowledge that he was more a killer than a spiritual leader.

Even Alucard was humoring his return to his former bloodthirsty self. Their sparring matches had become a regular morning activity, which left both of them bleeding but happy. It took a lot of strain off of Alex to be able to attack Alucard on a daily basis. Memories of cutting off that grinning head had borne him through more than one of Alucard's jokes at his expense. Granted, he'd lost his own share of limbs, but he regenerated even more quickly and efficiently as a vampire than he had as Section XIII's foremost regenerator. He couldn't help but wonder if or when Bishop Traversera would dispatch one of the new generation of regenerators to deal with his heretic priest.

•••

"Sir Olivia?" Alfonse broke Olivia's concentration on the reports scrolling across her screens. She looked at him with irritation, but bit back the urge to snap at him. Alfonse never interrupted without a good reason.

"What's so important, Alfonse?" He was holding a portable vidphone. It didn't look like Hellsing issue.

"This was delivered to the guard at the front gate about fifteen minutes ago. What is noteworthy is that he does not remember receiving it, although," he leaned over and tapped a command into her computer, "surveillance cameras recorded the messenger." Her screens displayed a nondescript young man placing the vidphone in the hands of a blank-faced Hellsing guard. The young man walked away; a few minutes later the guard shook himself and looked quizzically at the device in his hands.

Olivia blanked the playback and looked to her retainer. "Have you checked this yet?"

"Yes, Sir Olivia. There is no explosives residue nor any sign of tampering. I'd feel more sanguine if you'd permit one of the vampires to activate it outside, though."

"Where are my vampires? I explicitly ordered that one of them was to be on watch here at all times."

"I believe that Mr. Anderson was out patrolling the grounds when the vidphone was delivered. It seems too conveniently timed to be coincidental. I believe we must assume that the estate is being watched as we speak. I have called both Mr. Anderson and Alucard back to the main house."

Olivia motioned to Alfonse to hand her the phone and looked it over. "Alucard!"

Her servant stepped out of the shadows. "I am here, Master."

"Wait over there, out of video range." Olivia turned on the phone and examined its interface. There was one number programmed into its memory. She read it off to Alfonse and sent him out of the room to trace it while she called the number.

It was answered immediately and Olivia was looking at a person wearing a lioness-head mask. She recognized the description that Alucard had given her from Vittorini's memories – this was the head of the cult, the vampire who believed herself to be a goddess.

"You are Sir Olivia Vanderpoort Hellsing, head of the Hellsing Organization and Master of the vampire Alucard, who is Master of the vampire, Alexander Anderson." The voice was low, rich, unaccented and female.

Olivia refused to be disturbed by a person who couldn't even show her own face. "You know who I am, _I _know who I am. What I know of you is that you labor under the illusion that you are the incarnation of an Egyptian goddess and that you send your minions to murder humans in order to steal paintings and Egyptian artifacts. _I_ know that you are the delusional leader of a group of murdering undead thieves."

"Miss Hellsing," Olivia's eyes narrowed at the slight to her station, "I did not arrange this discussion in order to exchange barbs. You have something I _will_ have and I have something you _will_ want." The masked woman gestured and the camera's view was shifted to a bound and gagged figure that had been out of camera range. Olivia stifled a shout when she recognized the figure as her mother.

"Do I have your full attention? Your mother has not been harmed. If you do as I require, your mother will be released, unharmed. You have my word on that. If you do not do as I require, your mother will be released, as a ghoul. Again, you have my word on that."

•••

Alucard had never seen his Master in such a fury. It was beautiful to observe. She had listened calmly to the kidnapper's demands, asked pertinent questions and agreed to turn over the two paintings the next evening at a point that would be revealed just prior to the exchange. The moment the connection was severed, she released a stream of profanities she could only have picked up from the Hellsing soldiers.

Alfonse had been unable to achieve a proper trace on the number from the vidphone. It had been shunted through a number of blind relays that had been destroyed as soon as the call terminated. It was a masterful piece of hacking, which did nothing to calm the Master of Hellsing.

The butler had called Beatrice Vanderpoort's estate. She had retired for the evening and nobody had had any reason to check on her. Her room was searched and she was absent, but there was no sign of forced entry or any struggle. There was no way of knowing when she had been taken, but she had been last seen approximately six hours earlier that night.

Alucard was hoping that the kidnappers were lying and that the next time he saw Lady Beatrice Hellsing, he would have the pleasure of putting a bullet in her head to destroy her ghoul form. It would be a fitting end to a woman he had hated for so many years. If they succeeded in making her a ghoul, he resolved to kill their leader in a quick and painless fashion as thanks.

Alex was furious with himself. Sir Olivia hadn't dressed him down, but he was mad enough to do the job of several angry Hellsings. If he hadn't decided to go wandering off on the estate, he might have been able to catch the vampire who had made the delivery. They might have had a lead on the location of Olivia's mother. He had failed himself and Hellsing.

He stopped and went through that thought again. He understood his anger at failing himself, but when had he become so loyal to an organization he had once violently opposed? Thinking back, he'd have to say it was around the time that he was excommunicated and searching for a cause to keep him from sinking into despair. It was better to put the loyalty he'd spent a long lifetime perfecting on the Hellsing Organization, which at least fulfilled his need to serve the greater good, than to be adrift without a cause for the first time in well over a century.

Alex watched Sir Olivia as she conducted herself through her daily business. She had ordered both him and Alucard to attend her through the day. Alucard lounged in a chair, looking closer to neutral than Alex had ever seen before. The Hellsing leader was obviously concerned for her mother, but her focus was keen. She made calls, gave orders, searched through databases and never flagged in her duties. Alex watched from his place in the most shadowed corner this bright room had to offer. This was a leader he could respect.


	13. Rendezvous

The day passed excruciatingly slowly. The masked woman had told Olivia that she would be contacted in the early evening, but didn't give her a specific time. The Hellsing leader had been warned that she should expect to be moving within five minutes of being contacted. The paintings had been crated and were ready to be transported as soon as it was known where the exchange would be taking place.

Alucard would be shadowing his Master through the entire exchange. Anderson would be her driver, as Alucard had never learned how. Hellsing troops were ready to follow her car and they had made every arrangement they could, including putting tracking devices in the frames of both paintings as well as in the car and on Olivia's person. They were taking no chances with the leader of Hellsing.

•••

Bishop Traversera returned to his office after a long afternoon's budget haggling. He was tired of justifying Section XIII's expenditures to glorified accountants in priest's vestments. It took money to arm and prepare God's Judas assassins. Why did they expect him to justify every Euro spent when some of their expenses simply could _not_ be documented?

This morning's audience with His Holiness had left him in a mood that did not make suffering the accountants any easier. Ever since Iscariot's raid on London under the apostate Maxwell, each papal administration had kept close tabs on Section XIII. He did not usually chafe at the oversight, but the pontiff had expressed his clear displeasure that Section XIII had lost a legendary alumnus to Satan's clutches. He wanted action to cleanse their disgrace.

Traversera couldn't argue the problem of Anderson's blasphemous existence, but he had the good sense to know that he couldn't start an all out war with Hellsing over Alexander Anderson. Nobody could forget the lesson learned about Hellsing's ultimate weapon, Alucard could turn a city into a true representation of Hell on earth. Iscariot could not be responsible for another event of the magnitude of the London disaster.

In this cheerful frame of mind, Angelo Traversera sat at his desk to sort through the mountain of paperwork and correspondence that had accumulated during his brief absence. _Hell will be filled with requisition forms and Euro-crazed accountants. _At the top of the stack was a vellum envelope with "Bishop Angelo Traversera" written across it in an antique script. There was no indication of its sender. Father Fielding had not been at his desk when Traversera returned to his office, so there was no way to determine its origin beyond opening it. He slit the envelope and removed a heavy sheet of paper. The bishop read silently before grabbing his phone and making several urgent calls.

•••

The call came soon after dusk. The same masked figure appeared on the vidphone and directed Olivia to immediately go to Madame Tussaud's wax museum and take herself and the paintings to the Dracula exhibit. She would be given further instructions there.

Olivia rolled her eyes at the dramatic stage setting. _First it's the old chestnut of kidnapping my mother and now the Dracula exhibit at Madame Tussaud's. Are they planning to kill me with cliches? What next? The obligatory car chase, complete with gratuitous explosions?_

Anderson escorted her to the car, carrying the boxed paintings. Alucard assured his Master that he would be near at all times, but neither he nor Anderson would act until she ordered.

The drive into London was tense. Olivia was not a woman to whom waiting came easily, and sitting in a car with nothing else to do was nerve-wracking. She called up a display of the location of the troops sent to shadow her movements. It was a small force in order to avoid detection and to leave the bulk of her people to guard the mansion. There was a chance that this was a diversion to leave the organization's headquarters vulnerable. She had the equivalent of an army in her vampires anyway.

Anderson parked the car illegally in front of Madame Tussaud's and retrieved the paintings as Olivia got out. He followed after her as she strode into the museum.

The ticket taker waved her on through and pointed further inward.

"Sir Olivia, that person was no human."

"No doubt, Anderson. Keep silent and follow my lead in all things." _Alucard?_

_I am with you, Master. There are more of these vermin waiting for you up ahead. _

_And my mother?_

_She is not here._

Olivia pushed onward. The Dracula exhibit was easy enough to find. She and Anderson drew up to the wax figure and looked it over. "That looks nothing like Alucard. Perhaps he should contact the sculptor and arrange a sitting."

"Alucard is more likely to eat the sculptor than sit still for him." Anderson observed.

_I heard that, Judas Priest._

_Good. _

"Sir Olivia, we are ready for you." The woman turned at the voice behind her. The young man from the surveillance video stepped out of the shadows. It wasn't as impressive as one of Alucard's entrances, but he had style nonetheless.

"If you would come this way?" he gestured to a hallway behind him.

"I'm not going alone."

"By all means bring Mr. Anderson, my Lady." He stood aside and allowed them to precede him down the hall. They passed through a door into the back areas of the museum. Apparently this was where the costumes were made and fitted. A petite female vampire was waiting for them, holding an armful of clothing.

"Mr. Anderson, please open the box. I must verify that you have brought the paintings."

Alex glanced at Sir Olivia. She nodded to him to comply. He set the box on the floor and, by main strength, pulled the nailed-on lid away. The vampire examined the paintings and then shocked them both by producing a switchblade from his pocket, which he used to swiftly extract the paintings from their frames. He rolled them up and slid them into a waiting tube, which he then returned to Anderson.

The other vampire stepped forward and their escort nodded to her, "Miss Evans will escort you to the changing room, Sir Olivia. You will remove all articles of clothing you have worn here and wear what we have provided. Mr. Anderson will stay with me and do the same."

Olivia made a quieting gesture at Anderson as he opened his mouth to protest. "I'm not going out of his sight."

"I understand. We made the offer out of consideration for your modesty, but if you're not concerned about that, neither are we. Please remove all of your clothing and your shoes and take what Miss Evans has for you. You too, Mr. Anderson." The vampire leaned back against a wall, seemingly ready to watch with great interest.

_Oh, you lucky devil, Judas Priest._

_Get out of my head. I don't know if I can do this. I've haven't been naked in front of a woman since I was in nappies. _

_You'll do it and you'll keep your eyes to yourself or I'll be eating them for dinner. _

_So speaks my Master. Why do I think you've already seen the view? _Anderson took the clothes from the small woman and turned his back to Olivia.

Olivia leaned close to Anderson and spoke quietly, "Alexander, I know this isn't easy for you, but I'd really prefer you kept me in your sight. I can't afford for them to use your modesty as an opportunity to harm me."

The male vampire laughed at that. "We have no intention of harming you here, Sir Olivia. Why would we bother with the change of attire if we merely meant to have you for dinner?"

_Do you want to tell your Master what you told me about my eyes? They're such a pain to regenerate._

_No, priest, do as she says, but I'll be watching you. _

Olivia turned her body slightly away from Anderson and began to disrobe. He kept his eyes firmly on her feet, and quickly shucked his clothes and changed into the shirt and trousers they had provided. He wondered at their preparation. Clothes to fit someone of his stature were not something you got off the rack. How had they known that he would be accompanying Sir Olivia?

Miss Evans handed him a pair of socks and shoes and passed over a pair of pumps to Olivia. When they were both clothed, they looked like a couple prepared for a night on the town. Olivia was clearly not pleased with the dress and shoes, but voiced no complaint.

"Excellent. We're ready to move on. Please follow Miss Evans." The smaller vampire turned and led them out through an exit on the opposite side of the room from where they had entered. Their escort brought up the rear. Alex regretted having to leave his blades behind.

There was a third vampire waiting for them at the end of the hallway. Alex eyed the tall, brutish figure. These three vampires were an odd trio. The big man opened the door for them and watched them pass him and out into an alley where a small shuttle bus awaited. The woman led them onto the bus and asked them to take seats. The other two vampires joined them, with the thug taking the driver's seat.

Olivia was not pleased. These vampires had anticipated their actions easily, negating the tracking devices in the car, paintings and on her person. Were it not for Alucard, she and Anderson could easily disappear without a trace. _Alucard?_

_Yes, Master, I'm still here. They can't get rid of me that easily. This is child's play. _

_Just don't play a game that will get my mother killed. Do you understand?_

_But of course, Master._

They sat in silence as the bus wound its way in a southerly direction through the streets of London. They were nearing the river. Olivia watched as the bus pulled onto a street that ran along the river. She realized their intent when it drew to a stop. It had gotten very dark, but it was clear that there was some sort of watercraft waiting for them.

Anderson stayed close to her as they left the bus and were escorted to the boat. It was a sturdy craft and was manned by another trio of vampires. _Who ever heard of seafaring vampires?_

_Master, this is a problem. I can't cross the water without a plane or boat of my own. _

Damn! These vampires were countering her every move. This last was diabolically clever, shearing her of her most potent ally and threat. _Find a bloody boat or steal a damned airplane, but get your undead arse moving. I expect you to be there when this boat arrives at its destination. _

Reluctantly, the Hellsing leader and her sole bodyguard boarded the boat. They were escorted to a comfortable lounge belowdecks and left alone. Anderson watched his Master's Master uncomfortably, unsure what to do. He wasn't much good at the waiting game, being more a man of action.

Olivia was relieved when Alucard informed her that he had persuaded the captain of a fishing boat that it was more profitable to live to see another day than to go out fishing that night. He was running at least half an hour behind her, but would be able to follow the boat wherever it was taking her and Anderson.

About two hours after leaving London, they could feel the speed of the boat decreasing. Shortly thereafter, their original escort joined them again. "We will be arriving in about five minutes. You will accompany me to the helijet and from there, we will take you to your mother."

Reason told Olivia that they were in France, having just crossed the Channel. She had no idea where the heli would take them. Alucard was fast, but he was still on the water in a slower vessel and would have to travel to wherever they were flown. This group was cunning. She looked at Anderson where he sat next to her and said a quick prayer that he was as formidable as his reputation implied.

The flight was slightly longer than their boat ride. Alucard's boat wallowed its way to shore nearly an hour and a half after theirs. When they landed, Alucard was half a continent and an hour behind them.

As they stepped out into the field where the helijet had landed, Anderson spoke for the first time since their flight had begun, "We're in Italy."

The Hellsing leader didn't bother to ask how he knew. Either it was some special vampiric intuition, or it was just that Father Anderson had lived in Italy in Vatican City for more years than she'd been alive. What it meant to Olivia was that Alucard was not going to be able to get to them as quickly as she needed.

The man who had accompanied them from their first meeting with him in the museum led them to a waiting limousine. The big vampire that seemed to be part of their escort's trio took over the driver's seat and the smaller man and Miss Evans joined them in the back. "You'll see your mother very soon, Sir Hellsing."

The last leg of their trip was brief. Less than ten minutes later, the vehicle pulled up in front of a large villa. Olivia was surprised to see humans for the first time since this trip had begun. A very human butler took over the escort duties from the three who had been with them since London. "Please follow me, Sir Olivia and Mr. Anderson."

They followed him through the villa, seeing several more human servants, and outside to a lovely garden. "If you will wait here, you will be joined shortly."

"I haven't seen a vampire since we got here," Alex commented, eying their surroundings.

"Neither have I, but the place reeks of them. I'm sure they'll be along soon enough."

A voice intruded on them, "This place does reek of vampires. It is the unholy stench of a fallen servant of God, who has given himself into the hands of Satan." The speaker who stepped onto the patio was a brick of a man – short, wide and with a florid bulldog face that implied a stubbornness that would not end this side of the grave. What was incongruous, when Alex and Olivia had both expected a meeting with the masked vampire, was the priest's collar the man wore and the silver sword in his hand.

"Iscariot," Anderson hissed as he placed himself between the priest and his leader. "_You_ kidnapped Sir Hellsing's mother?"

"I am not a kidnapper, abomination, I am here at the direction of Bishop Traversera and it is his will and that of His Holiness that you be cleansed from the face of the earth."


	14. Traitor

Olivia spoke with barely restrained fury, "Traversera? That bastard is using the circumstances of my mother's abduction to eliminate Anderson? When did he become a vampire's catspaw?" The vampires had stripped her of her tracking devices and Alucard; they taken her out of her country and away from her troops. Now they had brought in someone they apparently expected to eliminate her remaining resource. Her hand itched for a gun, but that had been left in London with her clothes.

The priest glanced at Olivia for the first time and his mouth twisted in a sneer. "The Hellsing woman who consorts with vampires and allows the damnation of a man who had been a true servant of God. 'He that toucheth pitch, shall be defiled with it…' You are defiled and have contaminated those around you."

Anderson had spent many years trading biblical barbs with sinners and could not let the slur on Sir Olivia go unchallenged, "'Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.' What ye are doing here is not God's will, but the will of a vampire who is using yeh to do her dirty work."

The Iscariot stepped closer to his much taller adversary, "'Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit.' I would not believe the words of an apostate. You have betrayed even the betrayers, creature."

"'They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.'" Alex shrugged at the man. "I can do this all night, assassin. Shall we begin a Bible study group with the vampires who are watching us? Has Iscariot's training slipped so badly that ye can't feel their eyes on us?"

His opponent flicked his eyes around the garden, but returned them to glare at Anderson once more, "If there are more vampires here, I will destroy them when I am done with you." He feinted at Anderson and watched as he was easily evaded. The priest struck again, gauging the tall man's speed and skill.

"If one of us is to die tonight, tell me your name that I may pray for you tomorrow, Father." Alex didn't think he was going to get off as easily with this man as he had with the previous pair of would-be assassins. He would be taking another step down the road to utter damnation if he was forced to kill an Iscariot.

"For the Alexander Anderson who was, I will tell you," he paused to strike again and was again dodged by the unarmed vampire. "My name is Stephen Elias."

Anderson tried to use his speed to take advantage of Father Elias and was surprised by how quickly the fireplug of a man moved and reacted. Apparently Traversera hadn't sent a second-stringer this time. His eyes darted around the garden for a weapon, but found nothing.

The priest overextended himself on another testing strike and Anderson landed a bone-breaking blow on the man's shoulder, earning himself a searing cut on the leg in the process. The two men faced each other and Alex watched the man rotate his shoulder to the sound of bones grinding against each other. The slump of broken bones disappeared in moments and Father Elias stood in front of Anderson, hale and uninjured once more.

"A regenerator to kill a regenerator? We could be here all night."

•••

Olivia had been watching the exchange between the two men with half her attention; the other half was directed around the garden looking for something, _anything_ that could be used to her advantage. She startled when the vampire who had first met them in Madame Tussaud's spoke up behind her, "They are interestingly single-minded, aren't they?"

"What is it with your sort? Is it a vampiric prerequisite that you must appear out of nowhere to start conversations with the unsuspecting?" Olivia was annoyed with herself for betraying her surprise to this creature.

"My Lady Hellsing, how else would we find our dinners? They don't stock human blood at the grocer's and most humans have this narrow-minded objection to allowing a complete stranger to bleed them for nourishment." She glanced at him to see if he was joking or serious, but his face gave her no clues.

He nodded to the battling men, "While the spectacle of their meeting is highly entertaining, I regret to inform you that your presence is required elsewhere. Follow me and I will take you to your mother. Please don't forget the paintings." He gestured to the tube Anderson had set aside.

Olivia was caught. They had divested her of her every defense. She was unspeakably angry with herself. She should have thought of something better. She should never have submitted. Her ancestors would be horrified if she had brought down Hellsing through sentimentality.

_Master, if you can endure just a little longer, I will punish these upstarts. Do what you can to keep them from fulfilling their plan._

Olivia didn't know whether these vampires, who had anticipated her at every turn, would give her enough time for Alucard to arrive. She followed the vampire back into the villa, skirting the dueling pair. She saw Anderson distracted by her passage, and the priest took advantage of it to propel his sword into her vampire's body. Her last view of Anderson, as her escort caught her arm and pulled her into the villa and out of sight, was of Anderson sinking to the ground with the sword caught in his chest.

•••

_Damn, that hurts!_ Alex was on his knees. He could hear the Vatican's killer reciting a prayer, he assumed in preparation for a coup de grace. The silver sword had a blessing on it that burned through him. He shoved the pain away and threw himself backward as Father Elias' smaller blade flashed down where his head had been. He was gratified by the shock on the priest's face. _Ah, he thought that I was paralyzed like a lesser vampire would be. _

He was reminded of Alucard as he rose and pulled the sword out of his chest with a grunt of pain. The silver wire bound around the hilt of the sword burned his hand, but that was not nearly as important as finishing off his opponent and finding Sir Olivia before something dreadful happened. He hefted the sword to test its balance and swung at the smaller man.

Father Elias was inhumanly fast. Alex and the Iscariot fought across the garden. Alex could see pale figures at the edges of his vision. Apparently the vampires weren't bothering to hide themselves any longer as the battle escalated. Eventually the vampire's greater reach and speed began to turn the fight in Alex's favor. The first time he drew blood from the Catholic, his eyes narrowed and he licked his lips unconsciously. The scent of power and an indefinable _something _that came with the blood was distracting.

_Stop playing with the Vatican toy, Judas Priest. My Master is alone in there and I will make you pay if anything happens to her. _

Anderson's attention flagged when Alucard spoke in his mind. It cost him another wound from the priest. _Will you be here soon?_

_Soon, but not soon enough if they move quickly. Finish your little friend and get in to Sir Olivia. They're taking her up to the second floor. Don't waste time looking for her on the ground floor. _

Alex needed to pull out the stops. He had been holding back on using his magic out of shame. He didn't want the man who was essentially his replacement in Iscariot to see the black pages. The new manifestation of his magic humiliated him, but he couldn't afford the luxury of embarrassment.

He heard a murmur of conversation spread among the observing vampires as his black writ flew from his body and surrounded the priest with its slicing edges. The murmur increased as the black pages were met and repelled by the swarm of holy writ that the priest released. The two men were locked in both physical and metaphysical combat and were deadlocked. Alex's anxiety for the safety of the Hellsing leader was growing by the second. He put his pride aside and summoned his writ to carry him away from the Iscariot priest.

The abandoned priest whirled around, searching for his opponent, before he turned his battle-crazed gaze on the vampires surrounding him. Some of them flinched at the feral grin that he directed at them. "I see my work here is far from finished after all."

•••

Olivia kept herself calm by taking in every possible detail as she was escorted inside and upstairs. The villa was exquisitely furnished and filled with Renaissance-era pieces. She supposed that a vampire would have plenty of time in which to collect antiques. Which didn't explain the thefts.

She was ushered into a spacious solarium. _Would it be a lunarium for vampires?_ Her escort backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. There were stands scattered around the periphery with paintings on display. She recognized the stolen paintings as well as some that had fallen out of public view and had been listed only as "in the hands of private collectors."

She examined one near the door depicting a woman on her knees in the process of driving a spike into a sleeping man's head. Artemisia Gentileschi seemed to have a fascination with women killing men in somewhat gruesome manners. The subject matter was disturbing, but the rendering was wonderful. The gold of the woman's gown was particularly striking.

"It is called 'Artemisia Gold.'" Olivia's shoulders stiffened, but she was done letting vampires get the better of her.

She turned slowly to regard the new speaker. It was the woman in the lioness-head mask. The two women regarded each other silently for a moment before the newcomer removed her mask. The vampire was neither beautiful nor plain; she had the typical pallor and dark hair. If it weren't for the glaring red of her eyes, she would have looked like a serious and studious young woman rather than the head of a vampiric cult.

"I don't mean to be antagonistic, but where is my mother?"

"She is here and unharmed. I'll take that," with a nod to the tube in Olivia's hand.

Olivia handed over the tube and watched as the woman removed the paintings and unrolled them. She smiled and nodded before returning them to their container. "You've upheld your part of the bargain. I've sent for your mother." The door to the solarium opened and Beatrice Vanderpoort Hellsing entered.

"Livvie." She crossed the room and took her daughter's hand.

"Are you alright, Mum?"

Beatrice threw a look over her shoulder at the watching vampire. "I'm fine. The unexpected goes with the Hellsing name."

She squeezed her mother's hand briefly before releasing it and becoming businesslike once more. "I must retrieve my employee before we leave."

"I don't believe that anywhere in the instructions you received was there a mention of your leaving. You have been given custody of your mother in exchange for my paintings. You have not yet negotiated _your _release."

They all turned toward the sound of riffling paper in time to watch a curtain of black pages appear and then part to reveal Olivia's missing bodyguard. "Ye might want to give more thought to yer people than to double-crossing Sir Hellsing. I left the fox among the chickens in yer garden."

The woman cocked her head as though listening for a moment before her face changed from that of a civilized woman to the visage of a creature from hell. It was as though her features had physically rearranged themselves, leaving her face more bestial and her teeth ghastly huge in her mouth. The glare she shot Anderson was not one that Olivia would want directed at her. She strode _through_ the closed door without a word to them.

"Sir Olivia, I'm sorry we were separated. I joined you as soon as I could. Is this your mother?" He bowed slightly in Lady Beatrice's direction.

"Yes, she's unharmed. You will do everything in your power to see that she remains that way." _Alucard, where are you?_

_Near, Master, but not near enough._

_

* * *

A/N The painting I described is real as is "Artemisia Gold." It's worth a quick google if you're at all interested in art history. Part two of the note is just a minor complaint about the fact that I find writing fight scenes to be very difficult. I don't even enjoy them all that much when reading novels and tend to skip them. So I apologize if the fights ever seem truncated.  
_


	15. Allies

"Anderson, how many vampires did you leave in the garden?" Olivia was testing the door out of the room as she spoke. She was unsurprised to find it locked.

"I was a bit busy, Sir Olivia, but I'd have to estimate that there were ten or twelve watching us fight in the garden."

"How long will the Iscariot hold?"

"Father Elias is no weakling. If he only had to face the standard triads we've encountered from this group, I'd expect him to have little trouble, but I don't know enough about their leader to know how well or how long he can hold up to her."

"Can you use that little trick of yours to get us out of here?"

The tall man shook his head.

"I should have known it couldn't be that easy. Mother, stay close to him, and I'm asking nicely for the moment: do everything I tell you to if you want us to get out of this alive." Olivia had crossed to check the solarium windows. "Anderson, do you think you can break these?"

Anderson, with Beatrice trailing behind, joined her at the windows. They looked normal enough. "Stand back and let me see what I can do." He winced at the crunch of bones that followed his attempt to punch through the window. He didn't wait for his hand to heal, but tried several kicks, which had as little effect. He shook his head at the two women as he turned away, flexing his hand while the bones knit. "I can try the door, but we'll have to fight our way out."

Olivia weighed the odds. There were more vampires waiting outside the door, leaving the room would expose the trio to them; waiting in the solarium was little better. "We can't expect to fight our way through all those vampires with two unarmed humans in the group. Remember what Alucard said about the sword wielders? One blow and mother and I will be torches." She came to a conclusion she didn't really like, but which made sense. "I'm going to need you to buy us time. If you go back out to the garden and help that Iscariot, the two of you might be enough to clean things up before Alucard gets here, and if not, at least buy us the time we need for him to arrive."

"Aye. I can barricade the door with some of the furniture in here, and I can leave ye the sword. At least it won't burn _yer_ hand, but I don't like leaving ye here with no way of knowing if ye're alright or not." Despite his concerns, he began moving furniture in front of the door.

"I'll have Alucard relay any screams for help, Anderson. If I had a better idea, I'd be telling you."

•••

Father Elias was starting to flag. There were just too many vampires; the sword wielding undead were putting a severe strain on his regenerative abilities and the others were digging around in his head. It was all he could do to keep them out and keep enough concentration to hold his sword. He had destroyed four and he thought he would have been able to prevail if it hadn't been for the veritable queen of the damned who had entered the battle. She was fighting him into a corner and he was unable to call on his holy magic because of the mental assault he was under. He was desperately fending her off and making his peace with God when the demon he expected to take his life staggered forward against him.

•••

Alex had reappeared in the garden in time to see Elias clearly hard pressed under the cult leader's attack. The other vampires had pulled away and she had backed the priest into a corner. Alex sprang forward and hit her with his full strength, his fists hitting her back and neck. She fell forward under the brutal blows, but the watching vampires moved in to keep Alex from continuing his attack against her. The woman collided with the Hellsing vampire when the priest pushed her away from him.

Things became completely chaotic. Both Iscariots, past and present, were struggling to stay alive in the melee. Alex did his best to keep the cult leader as his primary target, believing that her subordinate vampires did not present the danger that she did. He sustained enough wounds from her and her cultists that he could feel his bloodlust rising. He needed more blood to continue the level of regeneration and exertion that the battle was forcing on him. From his time as a mortal regenerator, he knew that Elias was probably running mainly on adrenaline and would be burning his body's fat reserves with a vengeance.

It was getting harder to think. Elias' blood smelled better than that of the vampires he was fighting. Alex knew that if he didn't do something about it soon, he'd attack the priest whether he wanted to or not. He maneuvered himself into a position where the priest unwittingly shielded him and grabbed the next vampire to get within his reach. Alex hadn't been a vampire very long and he'd never fed from a living (well, mostly) victim; the flare of power he felt when feeding from the sandy-haired man he'd grabbed was beyond anything he could have imagined from drinking from bags of medical blood. He was almost oblivious to the injuries he sustained from the vampire's allies while he fed. He healed even the burning ones almost as quickly as they were caused, only caring to defend himself when his victim fell to dust in his grip.

There was a shrieking in the back of Alex's mind that he didn't understand and forced himself to ruthlessly suppress as he turned his full attention back to what was going on around him. He watched the woman who led the cult hit the Iscariot with a blow that threw him to the ground. Before she could finish off the human, Alex leapt between them.

Her face was still the frightening mask of evil it had been when he had first told her that Elias was loose among her disciples. His mind was filled with a memory – not his – of her in other circumstances, presiding over a ritual praising their avenging goddess of blood. He shook it away in time to receive a crushing blow to the chest from the woman. Another memory supplied her name, Artemisia. He was desperately missing his swords and bayonets as they fought hand to hand.

He was having trouble with her. He was strong enough to take her attacks and the Iscariot assassin was drawing enough of the attention of the remaining lesser vampires that he needed only worry about the woman – Artemisia - but memories and thoughts that were foreign to him kept intruding in his mind, slowing his reactions and distracting him when he could ill afford it. He couldn't get off the defensive with the handicaps his mind kept handing him and she eventually had him backed against a wall.

He thought he saw a flash of red from the corner of his eye, but when he spared a glance to the space where he thought he'd seen it, there was nothing but the green of the Mediterranean garden. He should not have allowed himself to be distracted by what he thought he saw, but his thoughts were so anarchic that he didn't have the presence of mind to keep himself as aware of his enemy as he needed to be. Her next attack was devastating, leaving his stomach gaping open and blood pouring from him. He could feel his stolen strength pouring out with the blood.

She stepped forward with a look of triumph on her face, only to have it disappear in horrified agony as a stubby silver blade suddenly projected from her throat. She stumbled forward into Alex's waiting arms when Elias jerked his sword free and the injured vampire took advantage of her shock to bury his face in her already gouting wound. His teeth tore further in and he bore her to the ground using all of his energy reserves to hold her until her struggles slowed and he was able to greedily drink as much of her as his body would take. He let much of her blood spill from his mouth, but consumed the final dregs that he drew from her as she died. His last thought before a tidal wave of memories swept him under was that he understood why vampires never seemed to settle for merely taking a little from their victims, but had to gorge on every last drop.

•••

Father Elias stood panting over the fallen vampire for a moment. All of the other demons had been vanquished. He had considered allowing Alexander Anderson to exist a while longer after the creature had come to his aid and helped him destroy all the other vampires, but the spectacle of a man who had once been a paladin of the faith feeding from that woman like any other abomination had banished any thoughts of staying his hand. He would be doing the man a favor by destroying him now. He prayed that God might take his former service as paladin and priest into consideration.

Elias spoke a quiet prayer and raised his sword to grant Anderson a mercifully swift execution. His arm was wrenched out of its downswing and bent behind his back hard enough to break bones in both his upper and lower arm and dislocate his shoulder. A sharp knee in his back and inhuman strength pushed him to the ground with a gasp of pain.

"The Judas Priest is mine, Iscariot. If you ever want to see another sunrise, you'll remember that."

•••

_He was buried in memories. He was a young woman whose only crime was wanting to paint. He was a man whose greatest glory was in serving God. He was a teacher who grew up in mid-21st century California. He was tortured for reporting his rape at the hands of his teacher. He was turned into a vampire by a woman who told him she would show him the mysteries of eternity. He was stolen from his parish by a vampire in red. He died in late middle age with his children around him and rose from the grave goaded by his undying hatred and feelings of injustice. He fought vampires with the grace of God behind him. He punished humans who thought they could loot the mysteries of his Goddess. He served his Mistress Artemisia with a clear heart and mind. He…_

Judas Priest. Wake up.

_He had been Alexander Anderson. He had been Robert Philips. He had been Artemisia Gentileschi. _

Alexander Anderson. Wake up!

_He had been an Iscariot. He had been a disciple of Sekhmet. He had been Sekhmet's earthly representative. He had been…_

Alexander Anderson! _You are Alexander Anderson. You are a vampire in my service and in the service of the Hellsing Organization. You were a human who hunted vampires for the Catholic Church. You were a paladin. You were an Iscariot. You were my enemy and now you are my child. _Wake up!

I am… 

…_Robert…_

…_Father Anderson…_

…_Artemisia…_

…_regenerator…_

…_vampire…_

…_paladin…_

…_apostate…_

…_Alex…_

_Alexander Anderson._

Alucard watched with satisfaction as Anderson's eyes opened. "What took ye so long?"


	16. Epilogue

Anderson had refused to leave his room for more than a week. Alfonse had left the ice bucket with his meals outside the vampire's door each night and retrieved the emptied bags and bucket the next morning. Alucard had intruded into his room on several occasions only to be ignored so completely that he might as well have not existed in Anderson's world.

One thing Alex had learned from the vampires he'd consumed was how to keep Alucard out of his mind. Unless his Master chose to batter down the walls he'd put up, Alucard could not touch the man's thoughts. With the Master/Servant bond that they had, Alucard could have done it, but did not. The Judas Priest needed time to come to terms with something only a nosferatu must learn to endure, accept and control.

Ten nights after their return from Italy, he emerged from his room to give his report to his commander. Olivia was surprised when she felt an unfamiliar mental touch. _Sir Olivia, may I come to yer office? _Even in her mind, he had a strong brogue.

_Yes, Anderson, come on up. _

Alucard was already lounging in his favorite chair when Anderson walked through the wall and into her office. His grin looked big enough to split his face as he watched his child with something Olivia could only interpret as pride. "Do you see how much our trip to Italy taught our Judas Priest?"

The look that Anderson gave Alucard was one of the purest hatred. He pulled a chair over to Sir Olivia's desk, sat down with his back to Alucard, and began to tell her the entire story of the cult they had destroyed.

Artemisia Gentileschi had been the leader of the cult. She had become a vampire in one of the rarest manners; her rage and hatred had borne her out of the grave in the form of a vampire. She had spent the first century or so of her undeath killing and feeding when and where whim took her. After that first century, she cast around for more meaning to her existence and found the cult of Sekhmet, the Egyptian goddess of just retribution. She was drawn to the myth of Sekhmet bathing in the blood of those she had slain and the idea of punishing those who transgressed because of her human background.

She had been tortured when human. Her crime? Reporting her rape by her teacher. Her teacher was tried and given the merest slap on the wrist. Whereas she had been defamed and reviled and when she died, nobody noted her artistic achievements. Rather, her obituaries were slurs on her supposed sexual promiscuity.

Her cult actually served a decent purpose for most of its existence. She would send her vampires out to punish those who seemed to have completely evaded the law despite their obvious guilt. The triads she sent always had a vampire skilled in mental disciplines to provide the final proof of the condemned's guilt. If that confirmation was given, her vampires would execute the criminal.

In the past few decades, her grasp on sanity began to fade. She no longer considered herself a worshipper of Sekhmet, but had more and more frequent delusions that she _was_ Sekhmet. Her edicts became more erratic; the people she chose to punish were less often the obviously deserving that had once been the cult's targets. Instead she began to covet both Egyptian artifacts devoted to Sekhmet and her own paintings. She somehow saw the people who owned her paintings as criminals who had stolen them.

The missing piece of information about the amulet that had been retrieved was that it was a symbol of the cult that had fallen out of the cult's possession and into human hands. The eye was one of Sehmet's symbols and the flames were representative both of the goddess' position as a sun goddess and of the flames that the cult's disciples had learned to harness with their magic.

Another useful detail involved the surprise visit from the Iscariot regenerator. Artemisia had anticipated that Alex would accompany Olivia, and had sent a letter to Bishop Traversera informing him that his rogue paladin would be in Italy and relatively undefended. She had intended to use Iscariot to eliminate Olivia's only bodyguard before turning the Hellsing leader into a vampire in her service.

When Anderson finally finished speaking, he leaned back in his chair and waited for the Sir Olivia's response.

She took a few minutes to absorb the information that he had provided in such detail. She understood how he had gotten the information and wondered how much consuming Artemisia's soul and memories had unbalanced Anderson.

"My mother has already returned to her home. She wanted me to thank you for her when you were ready to come out again. I have to thank you as well. I was afraid I was sending you to your doom and instead, you surpassed my highest expectations. It's clear that you have grown in your abilities from the experience as well."

"Aye. Grown. Ye could say that." Alex's face was unreadable.

"Anderson, as your superior, I need to know what the problem is."

"The problem?" he asked. He laughed bitterly. "The problem is that now that I have the memories and souls of two vampires inside me, I see how much longer it will be before I can possibly achieve my goal of destroying my Master," he jerked his chin in Alucard's direction. "I'm not happy to think of spending the next couple of centuries just building power until I can do what I must. It pains me in ways I can't explain that I will probably take more souls from more people during that time. I _hate_ what I have become and I hate still more the idea of what time will make me.

"And I hate how much I hate. Artemisia has shown me how dangerous hate can be. Hating Alucard is the only thing that gets me out of my coffin at night, it's the only thing that makes me drink the blood every night, it's the only thing that keeps me from handing myself over to Iscariot and begging them to send me to Hell."

He stood up and shouted at the Hellsing leader, "Hating him isn't enough, dammit!"

She didn't even have time to rise from her chair before he strode through the closed door, leaving her alone with Alucard's delighted chuckles.

•••

Alucard awoke with the knowledge that something was very wrong. He pushed on his coffin lid and it didn't budge. He tried to phase out of his coffin, but found himself locked in his solid form, unable to change. He reached out with his mind and found the cold thoughts of Olivia Hellsing nearby.

"I've been waiting for you to wake up, Alucard. Do you know where you are?"

He thought about it and realized with growing rage that he did. _You've put me in the prison. _

"That's right. The spell to keep you asleep while we moved your coffin was much simpler than the one to force you into this cell would have been."

_Why are you imprisoning me? I haven't disobeyed you. _

"You think making an unwilling human into a vampire isn't disobedience? I allowed you continued freedom because you were too valuable. Now it is my opinion that you are too much of a liability."

_You need me!_

"No, Alucard. You need me, and you can't have me. You will stay here until Anderson feels he is strong enough to face you in a fight. When you are released, I am sure that your ego will force you to release him from his servitude and he will be given his opportunity to destroy you." Alucard could almost see her smile. "It's my fervent hope that it takes him several centuries to feel ready for that while you rot in here."

_You can't trust him! He's an Iscariot. A disciple of Judas! He'll betray you eventually._

"I'm willing to take that chance, Alucard. He may betray us eventually; you have _already_ betrayed Hellsing. Good night, Alucard."

He lost his contact with her mind as she left the room and he hit the barriers that would keep him confined in this room in both mind and body.

•••

Alex stood at the door of Alucard's cell. He could feel the wards that confined the vampire burning along his skin. He called through the door, "Good night, _Master_. May yer dreams all be nightmares."

He turned away to where Sir Olivia was watching. He went to his knee in front of her and took her hand, "For this gift, I give my loyalty to ye and the Hellsing family until the day I go to my grave never to rise again."

* * *

_Hoo boy am I glad to be done with this one. It got harder and harder to write with each chapter. I hope it turned out alright._  



End file.
